Code Name KitKat
by GracelesslyFalling
Summary: Katherine is a data analyst at SHIELD who communicates with agents in the field via coms and helps them analyze data they've collected in the field. When Clint Barton's file stumbles across her desk she finds herself falling for the witty agent on the other end of her com (TAKES PLACE BEFORE THOR AND CONTINUES ON) rating may change
1. Chapter 1

**PRESENT DAY: TRISKELION**

"Whatcha doing?" Angie asked startling Katherine out of her trance as she desperately tried to cancel out of the files she was in.

"Nothing," Katherine insisted, knocking her mouse to the floor in her mad grab for it.

"Really, because it looks like you were drooling over Agent Barton. Again," Angie teased. Setting the coffee she'd gotten Katherine on her desk, she took her seat at the desk beside Katherine's.

"I wasn't drooling," Katherine defended, bringing her hand to her chin self-consciously.

"Ogling then. Seriously girl, you need to woman up and tell him you've got the hots for him."

"Don't act like you've never pulled up files of Jenson on your down time," Katherine countered, trying to draw the conversation away from her.

"Yeah, and I did something about it and look where we are now. Now, circling back to telling Barton about your fascination with him," Angie smiled widely.

"I'm just the nerdy analysis girl that helps him out from time to time," Katherine sighed, pushing her black rimmed glasses back up the bridge of her nose.

She'd never actually met Clint Barton. Analysists like her normally communicated with agents in the field via coms. Six months ago she'd been assigned to help with one of Clint's missions. Ever since then it seemed his file landed on her desk more often than not and they'd struck up something close to a friendship. Katherine was braver communicating only through coms or emails. The anonymity was welcoming. Though she'd dug into Clint's file for pictures after two months, she doubted if he had the time or desire to do the same.

"Does he know you've been analyzing his body?" Angie countered, her smile growing until it showed one of her dimples as her eyes pointedly stared at the picture of Clint on Katherine's screen. It made Katherine feel like a creeper, or a stalker. In truth, she'd had the file open for legitimate SHIELD reasons, she'd just lingered on the picture a little longer than was necessary.

"Angie," Katherine chided in warning, glancing around the room to make sure they really were the last two working late.

"Alright, alright, teasing aside, you do way more than just analyze the data he finds on missions," Angie continued in a more serious tone. "You've helped him find an exit route when he didn't have an extraction team in place. And your conversations over your coms is way more fun than any conversations I've ever had with an agent. At least the half of it I can hear."

"I just don't want to ruin our routine. I'm good with being the nerdy side kick to his badass agent. Really." Katherine enjoyed their easy banter over the coms too much to jeopardize it with feelings.

"Fine. Since you're not planning on plunging into those waters with him, that means you're free to double date with Jenson and me. His brother's in town and he doesn't want to leave him home alone." That explained the unexpected coffee. Angie had been trying to soften her up.

"Seriously Angie, you know how I feel about set ups." Katherine had had one too many bad blind dates. And if Jenson's brother was anything like him, he wouldn't be Katherine's type. Not that Jenson wasn't a nice guy, he just lacked in the quick wit, and sarcasm that Katherine had come to expect thanks to Clint Barton.

"Please," Angie begged, tucking her chin in and widening her hazel eyes. "He's cute, a pro hockey player, and you could stand a night of fun. I'm not expecting you to marry the guy, or even talk to him after it's over. Just keep him company so I don't have to miss the show at the Kennedy center. I spent half of my paycheck on those tickets and a long time convincing Jenson to go with me."

"Fine," She relented. She knew how much Angie had wanted to see the Phantom of the Opera. "But make sure Jenson's brother knows what to expect. I have a hard time believing I'm a jock's type and I've got years of high school and college to back that theory up."

 **(SIX MONTHS AGO) SEPTEMBER 2010: UNDISCLOSED LOCATION**

"Please tell me you're understanding this, because I don't read numbers and symbols," Agent Barton grumbled in Katherine's ear. His agitation was understandable. Ever since she'd lost remote access with the computer Agent Barton worked off of, she had to talk him through the codes for unlocking the encryption.

"Only a few more lines left. Now type: Delta, Charlie, six, nine, zero, zero, forward slash," Katherine instructed.

"Nothing's happening. Isn't something supposed to be happening? I feel like something is supposed to happen. Are you sure you know what you're doing?"

"Yes, but you could always try typing Alpha, Sierra, Sierra, Pound," Katherine muttered, pulling her long dark hair up into a ponytail.

"Alpha, Sierra…." To Katherine's surprise Agent Barton started laughing. "For the record, I appreciate you using the term pound rather than hashtag."

"Most people don't laugh when they're called an ass," Katherine pointed out.

"Do you call a lot of agents an ass?"

"Never directly."

"I'm flattered then," Clint retorted, smiling at the rapport they had going. Normally the data analysts he'd worked with before had been all business and seemed to have no sense of humor.

"Something's happening," Clint said when the screen flashed from the black analog screen to the file they had been trying to access.

"Told you I knew what I was doing," Katherine smiled triumphantly. "Now, scroll through it, slowly."

"Okay, what am I looking at?" Clint asked as he scrolled through the document that was written in the same computer code Agent Lee had been working in.

"It's what SHIELD was looking for when they sent you to Japan. Codes that will help us hack into data we have stored at the hub."

"We just used a code to hack into another code?" Clint asked. That was some serious inception.

"When you put it that way it sounds insane. But it's all pieces to a puzzle," Katherine murmured as she typed away at her computer.

"What am I supposed to do with it?"

"Erase the file," Katherine ordered, once she was finished typing.

"Erase the important code file that I stole from a very rich man who had ninjas at his disposal. Ninjas." Clint repeated back incredulously

"I've got screen shots. We don't need the file anymore. Delete it before those ninjas catch up to you."

"Too late," Clint murmured, glancing up from the laptop at the sound of the window behind him breaking.

"I thought you were joking about the ninjas," Agent Lee's voice buzzed in his ear.

"I never joke about ninjas," Clint insisted, blocking a hit from the man dressed in all black and looking like he stepped out of a Jackie Chan movie.

"How many are there?"

"Not really counting," Clint huffed, grabbing for his bow and using it to twist another ninja's arms up before kicking him away.

"Do you need me to notify back up?" Katherine asked, uncertain of what to do to help him when the sound of more glass shattering broke through their feed. "Agent Barton?"

"There is no back up," Clint grunted, flipping out of choke hold. He really needed to rethink his opinion of how cool the fight scenes in all those old Asian movies were. Because those ninja's were not giving it their all in comparison to these ninjas

"Tell extraction to be ready in five minutes," Clint instructed.

"On it," Katherine said, fingers flying over the keyboard to notify the extraction team. "Was that an explosion?"

"That was the sound of me deleting your fucking drive."

* * *

 _A/N: So here's a taste of what my Clint/OC would be like. Not sure if the chapters would always be this short, but I felt with the first one it'd be good to give a tiny taste. If it's not clear, the second part taking place 6 months ago is their first mission 'together' where Katherine was first assigned to Clint's case as data analysis. Let me know if you're interested in this story continuing. I had a lot of fun writing their banter._

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	2. Chapter 2

**PRESENT DAY: KENNEDY CENTER**

The double date was going about as well as Katherine had expected. Her and Drew, Jensen's brother, had run out of things to talk about by the time the appetizers came. It wasn't that she hadn't tried. She'd even worn her favorite maroon cocktail dress and heels for this. And she'd tried small talk, but their interests differed vastly to say the least.

At least now they didn't have to force conversation. They were free to sit silent in the theater and pretend the other wasn't there. Except Drew didn't pretend like she wasn't there. Despite their disastrous attempt at communicating, his hand found its way to her knee halfway through the first act.

She almost jumped at the contact and was trying to figure out how to remove his hand without disturbing the people around them when her work phone buzzed in her bag. Saved by SHIELD. She'd silenced her personal cell but kept her SHIELD phone on in case they needed her. She was never happier to get a call from work while off duty.

"I've got to take a call," Katherine whispered, standing and letting Drew's hand fall from her leg.

An usher led her to the nearest woman's restroom, which was miraculously empty. Sliding the lock on the door, Katherine slipped on the earpiece connected to her phone and answered the call.

"Agent Lee," Katherine answered, pulling a small tablet from her handbag and setting it on the table in front of the sofa. With a touch of a button a light atop the tablet projected a keyboard on the table.

"KitKat," Clint responded, causing Katherine to smile at his absurd nickname for her. "There's my favorite tech genius. I've got something for you."

"Give me a minute, I'm working on a tablet in the woman's bathroom at the Kennedy Center," Katherine said as she attempted to access her desktop from the tablet so she could access whatever Clint needed her to see.

"Fancy," Clint said, glancing around the hovel of a hotel he was currently sitting in.

"Yeah. There's a lounge area with a sofa and a crystal chandelier. It's nicer than my living room." Katherine glanced up at the chandelier above her.

"So, what are you doing at the Kennedy Center?" He asked, leaning back against the wall.

"Angie roped me into a double date," Katherine admitted, typing in her passcode.

"Oh, sorry to interrupt." Clint sat up straighter at the mention of a date.

"Don't be," she muttered. Clint had saved her from making a scene and interrupting the production just because Drew wanted to use her leg as an armrest.

"Going that well," Clint smiled at Katherine's tone.

"It's with Jensen's brother."

"Enough said," Clint chuckled. Jensen didn't hold the most intellectually stimulating conversations. He could only imagine how his brother was.

"I'm in," Katherine announced when she finally connected with SHIELD's server. "What do you have for me?"

"What's supposed to be the coordinates to the next drop off location for a weapons trade, but it's encrypted. Nat couldn't even break it. I was hoping you could take a look at it."

"You called Nat before me. I'm a little offended," Katherine joked as she clicked on the file Clint shared with her. It pulled up a blue screen with a jumble of code.

"Actually, Nat and I are tag teaming this mission so she had access to it already." He'd never call anyone before Katherine. "So, what do you think?"

"I think you never make it easy for me," Katherine teased as she shifted through the data.

"What can I say, I like making you work for it." Clint's innuendo had her fingers hesitating over the table. She should be used to his flirtatious joking by now.

"Good thing I never back down from a challenge," Katherine shot back, her fingers flying across the projected keyboard, typing in her second language. The code kept changing right when she started understanding it, which should have been frustrating, but Katherine just found it exhilarating.

"Let's see if you can beat your record," Clint said, glancing at his watch.

"Do I get a handicap for working on a tablet in a bathroom?" Katherine asked, her eyes scanning the text.

"Don't insult yourself," Clint said.

 **PRESENT DAY: UNDISCLOSED LOCATION**

"There's no way you cracked this on your own," Nat said, handing the tablet back to him. "You called Katherine didn't you?"

Clint always called Katherine. There were at least two dozen data analysts working for SHIELD at the Triskelion alone and he always called Katherine. The girl was good, very good, but Natasha had a feeling he wasn't just calling for the tech support.

"Why do you think I couldn't crack it?" Clint feigned insult.

"Because I know you. And you've called Katherine over more mediocre things than this. So how is the illustrious Agent Lee today…or tonight in her time zone?"

"She was on a double date at the Kennedy Center with Jensen's idiot brother," he muttered, keeping his eyes on the tablet.

So he'd even called her when she was off the clock. And Katherine answered. Interesting.

"You've never even met Jensen's brother. How do you know he's an idiot?" Nat pointed out, playing devil's advocate.

"Look at him," Clint said, using a split screen he pulled up the picture he'd looked up when he'd talked to Kat alongside the file she'd cracked.

"Impressive," Nat murmured.

"What?" Clint said, glancing from the tablet to Nat.

"Not him, the fact she broke this code at the Kennedy Center probably only using a tablet and holographic keyboard." Nat said her eyes on the right half of the screen where the file was.

"Oh," Clint murmured, feeling a little better.

"Although he's not half bad," Nat added, mostly to ruffle Clint's feathers, turning her attention towards the picture.

"Okay, let's forget about the Mighty Duck wannabe," he said, canceling out of the picture. "What's the plan now that we know where the deal is taking place?"

"I was thinking we could go with 'fish in a barrel'," Nat suggested, laying back across the bed.

"Dibs on shooter. I was the bait last time," Clint agreed, sending Nat the coordinates before closing out of the file.

 **(SIX MONTHS AGO) SEPTEMBER 2010: TRISKELION**

Agent Johnson wanted to see Katherine in his office. She couldn't remember the last time she'd been summoned to an unscheduled private meeting with her supervisor. The notice popping up in her email alerts that morning had her on edge, trying to recall anything she might have done wrong in the last 24 hours. She'd filed the paperwork for all her case files; she hadn't left any open. She had to use overtime to work on Agent Barton's file last night, but she'd gotten that approved. The only thing she could think of was someone had filed a complaint against her.

"Shit," Katherine murmured under her breath. She'd called Agent Barton an ass, while on the job. That was the definition of unprofessionalism. Not that he hadn't cursed as well. But she didn't file a complaint for it. Apparently Agent Barton had.

"What?" Angie asked, glancing at Katherine as she muted the com she was on.

"I have a meeting with Johnson," Katherine whispered back. Pulling her card from her computer, she straightened her blouse.

"Good Luck," Angie told her.

Katherine dragged her feet as she made her way towards Agent Johnson's office. Maybe if she apologized he'd go easy on her. Knocking softly on his door, she entered reluctantly when told to.

"Ah, Lee, come in, have a seat," Agent Johnson said, shoving some files into a cabinet before sitting at the desk across from her.

"I'm sorry sir," Katherine blurted out as she took a seat.

"You're sorry?" Agent Johnson asked, his eyebrows pulling together. "For what?"

"I didn't mean to call Agent Barton an ass. I know it was unprofessional—" Katherine stopped talking when Agent Johnson interrupted her.

"Lee, I brought you in here to talk about your application for Level 7."

"You mean I'm not in trouble for using profanity on the job?" Great, yet another 'foot in mouth' moment. Except this time it was in front of her boss.

"Apparently he didn't care. He didn't report you and I'm going to pretend you didn't tell me any of that," he said, sending her a conspiratorial look before shuffling through his papers. "I'm sure you're aware applications have been reviewed for promotion these past few weeks."

"I forgot, actually," Katherine admitted. She'd been so focused on her workload, she hadn't realized it was already review season.

"You've been doing great work Agent Lee, taking on more case-loads, putting in the overtime needed, and you close your files in a timely fashion, which is more than I can say for some of your fellow analysts," Agent Johnson pressed on.

"What are you saying sir?" Katherine asked. She didn't want to assume anything and go through the whole 'foot in mouth' thing again. It was embarrassing enough the first time.

"Welcome to level 7," Agent Johnson smiled, handing her an official document dated, stamped, and signed. "Take this to Marge in HR and she'll set up your new clearance level and ID."

…

"I can't believe I'm level 7," Katherine said, leaning back on her forearms, soaking in the sun on their lunch break. Angie drove them to the Mall and they were laying on the grass on one side of the reflection pool eating hot dogs from one of the many food carts.

"I can, you're a rock star," Angie said laying back to stare up at the sky through the trees.

"So are you," Katherine insisted, knocking Angie's leg with her foot.

"Yes, but I'm perfectly happy staying a level 5. Less responsibility. Less overtime. More fun."

"More time to stare at Jensen's butt when he trains?" Katherine asked with a cheeky smile.

"That's not the only reason I go to the gym," Angie defended.

"The other being I force you to go with me," Katherine said. "Speaking of, want to hit the gym tonight? I'm thinking yoga today."

"No. It may surprise you, but we aren't required to pass physical fitness tests to keep our jobs." Angie would never understand Katherine's desire to train when their jobs were far from physical and they weren't required to.

"I like working out. Besides, I'm thinking about getting field training," Katherine admitted, stretching out on the grass.

"This is the perfect example of why you're a Level 7 and I'm not. Why would you want to get field training?" Angie asked, turning her head so she could see Katherine's face. Being in the field would be terrifying, mainly because there would probably be people shooting at her with the intent to kill while she would have to remain composed and work on whatever technological thing needed solved.

"It sets me apart from other data analysts and will bump my application up whenever I go for Level 8 in the next 10 years."

"Ah yes, your big 10 year plan. Aren't you three years ahead of your 5 year plan?"

Katherine stuck her tongue out at Angie's comment and they both started giggling.

"So, gym after work?" Katherine tried again.

"Fine," Angie relented. "As long as we get drinks after. We need to celebrate the fact that you finally have a higher clearance level than most of the meatheads in Black-ops. I can't wait to see Rollins and Rumlow's face when I rub it in."

"It's a plan: gym, gloat, and drinks."

* * *

 _A/N I did not expect the response I got with the last chapter. Thank you so much to everyone who read the chapter, favorited/followed and reviewed. It means so much to know you really liked the story. Here's to hoping the second chapter goes over as well. I'm having fun writing this story, it's format is a lot different than what I usually write which is refreshing._

 _ALSO I HAVE AN INSTAGRAM FOR MY FANFICTIONS NOW WITH AESTHETICS: Gracelesslyfalling_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	3. Chapter 3

**SEPTEMBER 2010: TRISKELION**

The gym in the Triskelion was fully equipped for field agents to train and keep in shape. Because of that, despite being open to all SHIELD agents, it was mostly used by field agents. Those who graduated from operations were more comfortable there than those from science and technology or communications. It might also have something to do with the fact that field agents needed to keep physically fit to do their jobs and stay alive.

When the elevator left Angie and her off, there was a lot of kick boxing, sparring, and strength training going on. A couple agents glanced their way, but quickly returned to their own thing. To field agents, the gym was part of their job and they gave it their full focus. For Katherine, the gym was a way to unwind after the work day was over.

Adjusting her gym bag on her shoulder, Katherine grabbed mats from the equipment closet. Leading them to a quiet corner in the back of the gym, away from the grunting weight lifters, Angie and Katherine spread out their mats. They followed a video from Katherine's tablet, working through an hour of different flows.

"I thought yoga was supposed to be easy and relaxing," Angie said, wiping the sweat from her brow. The yoga they just did was not easy nor relaxing. It was hard.

"It depends on what type you do," Katherine replied, her eyes closed and the back of her hands resting atop her knees. "And we're supposed to be meditating right now."

"Well next time let's do the stretching, relaxing kind where we lay on our backs and clear our minds for half the time" Angie peaked at Katherine out of the corner of her eyes. "How long are we going to sit in silence?"

"Apparently not very long," Katherine said, opening her eyes to smile at her best friend. "Come on, let's hit the showers."

Angie cranked up her music as they showered, claiming they needed to get in the party mood for the night ahead. The music and their voices echoed around the bathroom as they sang along in their shower stalls, not caring if other agents came in. Dressing in dark jeans and the extra black blouse she'd packed for their traditional Friday night drinks, Katherine had to get really close to the mirror in order to reapply her eyeliner. She hadn't brought contacts, and the world was a blur without her glasses, making winged eyeliner even more difficult.

"Time to knock the guys at the bar off their feet and get free drinks." Angie twisted one of her tight dark curls around her finger as she came to stand beside Katherine.

"My eyeliner _is_ miraculously even. I think it's a sign that it's going to be a good night," Katherine agreed, slipping into her black heeled boots.

Scanning their badges to call the elevator, they boarded an empty car. The doors were sliding shut when a hand flashed between them, making them fly open again to reveal Rumlow and Rollins. Or as Angie referred to them: Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.

"Lee, a little out of your depth down here aren't you?" Rumlow greeted, glancing down at Katherine. "Maybe you should stick with what you know. Tech is floor 14."

"Unlike you, I enjoy broadening my skillset outside of my job description," Katherine retorted. "Maybe that's why I'm level 7 and you're still stuck at level 6 for the…fourth year in a row now is it?"

"There's no way Johnson made you level 7," Rollins interjected.

"Read it and weep, boys," Angie said, holding up Katherine's brand new badge just as the doors dinged open to the atrium.

Both Rumlow and Rollins stared, dumbstruck at the proof Katherine was indeed a higher level than both of them.

"Don't worry Rumlow, it's never too late for an old dog to learn new tricks. There's always next year," Katherine said with a falsely sweet smile before she left the elevator with Angie arm in arm.

 **SEPTEMBER 2010 UNDISCLOSED LOCATION**

Barely a week after the ninja's and Clint was back in the field. Another undercover solo op. It wasn't that working solo was hard, it just got boring. There was very little communication with anyone. He wasn't even supposed to get close to the target this time.

He was expected to keep his distance as he followed him and intercepted his conversation. He'd already shot an arrow with an audio transmitter above the target's room on the train. Now he just had to wait until he got the info SHIELD needed before finishing off the target and any of his accomplices.

It was the waiting that got to him now. He'd slept three nights in the baggage car and still nothing. When his connection with the target's car started getting spotty he had to call into headquarters for some technical assistance. Hopefully they'd give him someone entertaining. Although at that point he'd appreciated talking to another human no matter how dull they might be.

There was a click through the com in his hearing aid before he was connected with his personal tech guru.

"Agent Barton, we meet again." It was the data analyst who'd called him an ass. Clint couldn't help but smile. This mission just got a little more interesting.

"You've already called me an ass. I think that puts us on a first name basis, don't you?" Clint asked relaxing back against some of the bags.

"I think that would require you knowing my first name."

"You get access to my file before you call. I'm kind of at a disadvantage here," Clint pointed out.

"I doubt you called headquarters for my first name, what do you need me to do?"

"I've lost connection with the transmitter I planted." He wasn't giving up on getting her name. But he did need to get the transmitter working again.

"What frequency was it operating at before you lost it?"

"I have no idea how to answer that," Clint admitted.

"Okay, what channel were you listening on?" she tried again.

"Channel six. Is that what frequency means?"

"No, but it'll help me find the frequency you were on so I can tap back into it." She sounded distracted, he could practically hear her hands flying over her keyboard.

"I'm going to adjust some things, let me know when you can hear something." Varying levels of static echoed in Clint's ear, each increasingly annoying until he heard a soft voice between the static.

"There, I hear something," Clint said, focusing on the voice. Slowly the static disappeared until the voices were clearer than when he'd started. "What about the bits we missed?"

"They're recorded on the transmitter even though you couldn't hear it. You just need to retrieve the receiver."

"Easier said than done," Clint grumbled, moving to his feet. He'd need to be creative if he was going to retrieve the receiver and take out the targets.

"Why, where is it?"

"On the top of a train car," Clint said, prying open the car door and reaching for the ladder leading to the top of the train.

Keeping low once he reached the roof of the train so the wind from the moving train wouldn't impede his traction, Clint made his way towards the target's car. It was misting out, and halfway there he slipped on a slick part of the metal, cursing under his breath as he fell hard on his right knee. He was quick to reassure Agent Lee he was fine when her voice buzzed in his ear.

When he finally made it to the car with the transmitter, he pressed a button that released the magnetic field and tucked the arrow into the pocket of his cargo pants. Pulling a new arrow from his quiver, he magnetically anchored it to the top, attaching a rope to the end.

"Right, here goes nothing," he said, psyching himself up.

With a crash of glass he was in the target's compartment. It was too close range for his bow to do any good, so he pulled one of the knives strapped to his leg, throwing it at the figure across the car while wrapping his arms around the closer target. The knife hit the guy's left eye, dead center, and he fell lifeless to the floor in a matter of seconds. Clint had to scuffle with the other target before he managed to get him in a choke hold and snap his neck.

"Mission accomplished, Agent Lee." He'd always wanted to say that to someone.

"Katherine," she corrected as he pushed the now dead targets out of the window he'd come through.

"What?" he asked, drawing the curtains across the broken window.

"My name is Katherine, with a K not a C. That's very important."

"Is that all it took to get your name?" Clint joked as he relaxed on one of the seats. He had a bit of a ride left to go before he made it to the extraction point.

"The ninjas last time helped too," Katherine said. "Do you need anything else before I sign off?"

"As a matter of fact, yes," Clint insisted. "I have a very long ride left on this train, and I expect I am going to fall asleep. I need you to be my alarm clock."

"Goodbye Clint," Katherine chuckled.

"It's your fault if I don't make the extraction rendezvous, Katherine with a K," Clint called out before she clicked off the com.

 **PRESENT DAY: WASHINGTON DC**

The field exam was more thorough than Katherine thought it would be. Not only did it include the normal physical elements, but also a psychological test, questioning while hooked up to a lie detector, and a training on how to withstand torture without spilling any secrets. By the end of it she was sweaty, dirty, and physically, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. But it was all worth it. Because she passed. Now she could add 'field eligible' to her file. And it just took 12 hours on her Saturday off to do it.

"Well? Did you pass?" Katherine had barely made it to her apartment when she got the call from Angie.

"Yes. I'm officially eligible to go into the field if necessary," Katherine said, shutting her door with her shoulder and sliding the lock into place.

"And may it never be necessary."

"What if I want to go into the field?" Katherine challenged.

"Please you only got the training to boost your resume," Angie scoffed. When there was no word from Katherine she added, "Right?"

"Yeah, but the field wouldn't be so bad. Besides, I don't think I have much of a choice in the matter. If they need an analyst in the field, they just pull from those who have training."

"That leaves you and Eric. Eric's level 3, which means they'd pull you first. Oh my god. You can't die on me," Angie ranted as she worked through the options.

"I'm sure I'd have special-op agents watching my back."

"Great, so we have to count on Rumlow or Rollin's to keep you alive. That's reassuring. There's a reason I call them Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum."

"Okay, calm down Angie. When's the last time they pulled an analyst into the field anyways?"

"That's because they didn't have any options."

"What about Eric?"

"Eric doesn't count," Angie insisted. "He _just_ made it to level 3. He's a newbie. You're experienced. Besides there's analysts at the Hub we don't even know. They could be pulled into the field all the time."

"Okay, seriously Angie, you're going to give yourself a panic attack."

"Too late, I'm in full panic mode," Angie said, inhaling through her nose and out her mouth to try and calm herself down. It wasn't really working when all she could think about was Kat dying in some undisclosed location without Angie knowing until the funeral that would be closed casket because the mortician can't cover up a bullet hole to the head.

"Why did you go through the training?" Angie demanded "You couldn't have just gotten another doctorate to boost your resume?"

"This was cheaper and less time consuming." SHIELD footed the bill for her test. She'd trained on her own sporadically after work and it only took one day to complete the test. Another doctorate would have been much harder.

"Cheaper but more stressful. Crack open a bottle of red wine. I'm coming over and we're drinking until I'm not anxious anymore," Angie ordered before hanging up.

* * *

 _A/N: I'm back at it with another chapter._ _I'm enjoying this new writing format I have going for this story. It makes it a lot of fun to write. Hope you all continue to enjoy it!_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	4. Chapter 4

**(Four months ago) NOVEMBER 2010: TRISKELION**

Katherine sucked down her ice coffee, praying to the caffeine gods that it would wake her up so she could focus on whatever files landed on her desk that day. Her neighbors had been in a screaming match all night, and the thin walls had Katherine hearing every decibel of it.

"You look like crap," Angie greeted her.

"Thanks," Katherine muttered. "I didn't sleep at all last night."

"It's my job as your best friend to tell you the truth," Angie shrugged. "Was it your neighbors again?"

"Yes, I wish they'd get evicted already. Or a divorce." The fighting had gone from sporadic to at least twice a week. At this point Katherine didn't even think couple's therapy would help.

Slipping in her ear piece, Katherine logged into her computer to see who she'd be working with today. She hoped it would be someone halfway competent. If it was Rumlow or one of his counterparts she wouldn't survive the day. Clicking on the task center, a familiar name popped on her dashboard, making her smile. Once again, she'd be helping Clint Barton.

"Word of warning: I'll be working below par today," Katherine said once she'd connected to Clint through the coms. If it was any other agent she would have waited until they contacted her for her tech expertise. But with Clint, she had started making contact well before she was actually needed after the first month.

"Hungover?" He'd have to make a note to talk softer if Katherine was dealing with a hangover. Nothing was worse than your brain throbbing against your skull after a night of over indulging.

"No, my neighbors were rehearsing for the Jerry Springer show last night."

"Definitely not as fun as getting drunk."

"I'm sure you've had your fair share of bad sleeping conditions." Field agents, especially specialists, had to make due with whatever terrain they were working in. She'd heard of agents having to sleep in a junkyard one time to throw off the scent of attack dogs.

"I just have to slip out my hearing aids and I sleep like a baby no matter where I am." Clint commented offhandedly as he adjusted his position. He'd been sitting on one of the rafters in an old warehouse for hours.

"I suppose that's one of the advantages to having a mute button for life," Katherine mused.

Around the tenth time they'd 'worked' together, Clint had mentioned he'd lost 80% of his hearing during a past mission. He told a fantastical story when she asked how it happened that didn't match anything in his file about it. Clint didn't seem phased when she called him out on it.

Clint was about to comment back when the squeak of metal below him drew the attention of two of the massive guards the warehouse had patrolling the building.

"Crap," Clint muttered under his breath, scattering to the next rafter over when bullets started flying at him.

Though he'd been spotted, he wasn't ready to give up the advantage of being out of their reach until he had to. Which was much sooner than he anticipated when a bullet grazed his arm as he gripped the next rafter, causing him to lose his hold and start falling. Pulling an arrow from his quiver, he launched it at the roof, grabbing hold of the rope attached to slow his momentum on the way down.

"What's going on?" Katherine asked as the muffled sound of a scuffle sounded on his side.

"Engaging the enemy," he grunted when he got kneed in the stomach.

"I thought you were going to just pick them off one by one." Clint was the best sniper SHIELD had. He could kill you without you even knowing he was targeting you. And yet, he seemed to get in physical fights more often than not. Katherine was starting to think he liked it.

"That's a lot easier when A, they don't know I'm here, B, I'm not shot out of my hiding spot, and C, there aren't so many of them."

"How far away is extraction?" Katherine asked, pulling up the details of his operation to try and see who she needed to signal for help.

"There is no extraction this time."

"What?" Katherine muttered. "No, there's always an extraction in place. SHIELD just can't leave you hanging."

"I knew going in that I was going to have to get myself out." Elbowing the man coming toward him, Clint reconsidered agreeing to no extraction when even more men in too tight black tees started coming at him.

"Wrong again," Katherine said, leaning further over her keyboard.

Opening a new window, she accessed SHIELD's archive and began typing in code until she broke through the security and had complete access to the redacted portions of Clint's mission. As soon as she knew his location, she canceled out of the file and began the process of gaining remote access to the warehouse Clint was playing WWE smack down in. It was, as she expected, much easier than hacking SHIELD's firewall.

Clint stumbled over one of the unconscious men when the lights went out in the warehouse. For a second he thought the power had actually gone out from pure luck.

"Head to the southwest quadrant of the warehouse. There's a door that leads outside there."

"How did you…I thought SHIELD blacked out the locations," Clint said, doing as Katherine said and moved towards the back of the warehouse. He needed to take advantage of the confusion while it lasted. Preferably before anyone started shooting haphazardly.

"You sounded like you needed help, so I removed the sensors on the redacted parts of the mission." Her nonchalance over hacking SHIELD for information she wasn't supposed to have had him smiling.

"Breaking SHIELD protocol, I'm impressed. I think that earns you a code name," Clint said, stepping out into the night. "Okay, where do I go now?" Even with his eyesight, it was hard to make out the different buildings in the dark.

"Keep heading south and you'll find another structure," Katherine instructed, pulling up the blueprints of the facility. Her fingers slipped on her keyboard when Clint had to engage more men with guns. Her palms were sweating and her heart raced as though she was there with him.

Slamming the door closed on the next warehouse he came across, Clint threw his weight against the door in an effort to keep the men with guns outside. Thankfully Katherine hadn't killed the lights in that sector. Glancing around, Clint found it wasn't just another warehouse, it was a hanger.

"How are you at flying?" Katherine asked. She really hoped he could pilot a plane, or else her escape route wasn't going to work to well.

"I can get her off the ground. No promises on the landing," Clint muttered, picking out a model he was semi-familiar with and sprinting towards it.

 **PRESENT DAY: TRISKELION**

Katherine stood just inside the doors leading to the landing pad, her bag beside her on the floor. She'd gotten the call early that morning to be packed and ready to go into the field. They hadn't told her where she was going, or what she was going to be doing. She would be briefed in the air to prevent any information from leaking.

"Agent Lee, we're ready to board," the pilot said as he stepped in from the landing pad.

"Just a few more minutes." Katherine glanced down the hall behind them. She was starting to think Angie wouldn't get her message in time. It was their day off, and Angie tended to sleep in whenever she could.

"I've got orders to get wheels up as soon as possible."

Sighing, Katherine reached down for her bag when the sound of footsteps echoed around them. Turning around Katherine found Angie running full speed down the hall, looking disheveled in sweatpants and a loose tee. She slid to a stop before Katherine, pulling her into a hug, her breathing heavy.

"You made it." Katherine hugged her back.

"Of course I made it. I can't let you fly off to your possible death without saying goodbye." She'd woken up about a half hour after Katherine's message. Not even bothering to dress, she'd grabbed her keys and hailed a cab. Although she ended up abandoning the cab three blocks down when it got stuck in the weekend tourist traffic and ran the rest of the way here. She'd even taken the stairs.

"Just because it's a field mission doesn't mean it'll be like the James Bond movies. I'll probably be in a van the whole time on a computer."

"Just promise you'll be safe wherever it is they're sending you." Angie refused to release her grip on Katherine until she promised she'd do her best not to die.

"Man the fort while I'm gone. And don't let Trevor use my desk," Katherine said before slipping out the doors to the landing pad.

She looked back just before boarding the jet, waving goodbye to Angie. In all honesty, she was nervous. She hadn't known what to expect when she'd gotten the call from Agent Johnson that she was needed in the field, top priority. It had to be something big to have him pulling her in on her day off.

Since he couldn't tell her how long she'd be gone, or where she was headed, she had to pack for various weather conditions. She'd worn layers for the flight: jeans, a sleeveless loose fitting cream blouse and a black leather jacket. Her bag wasn't big enough for a winter coat, so she hoped they wouldn't be going anywhere like the artic. As much as she loved her black heeled boots, she'd chosen her black gym shoes in case, for any reason, she had to be active for any portion of this assignment. Running was a lot easier in sneakers.

Following the pilot onto the plane, Katherine took a seat closest to the cockpit and clicked her buckle into place. She had to wait until they were at cruising altitude before she could boot up her tablet, and she spent most of the flight familiarizing herself with what little information SHIELD had put together on the assignment. Based on the file, it seemed to be an impromptu mission for all agents, not just her.

A black car and an agent in a suit and tie were waiting for her when the plane landed in a cloud of orange dust. With the sun bright above them, he had to be burning up in it, and yet he hadn't rolled up his sleeves or loosened his tie.

"You must be Agent Coulson," she greeted holding out her hand. "I'm Agent Lee."

"I know who you are. I hand-picked you myself for this. I hear you're one of the best." That caught Katherine off guard. She had expected SHIELD had sent her because she was one of only two data analysts at the Triskelion who had field training. "We better get going."

He took her bag, opening the passenger door for her before stowing her bag in the trunk. Katherine slipped out of her jacket and folded it over her arm before taking a seat. The drive to the site was long and silent. Katherine wanted to text or call Angie, but she'd already signed the papers agreeing to no contact with anyone other than those involved on the assignment. When she signed she was still in a state of shock over being called into the field. She hadn't really thought about the no contact thing. She told Angie everything. Not a day went by when they didn't communicate in one form or the other. It would be a struggle not telling her everything now.

"How long do you think I'll be needed out here?" Katherine asked, breaking the silence between her and Agent Coulson.

"A few days, maybe a few weeks. It's hard to tell with 084's." Normally they'd bring unknown objects back to a SHIELD lab, but no one had been able to move this one. So they built their own lab around it and flew in the personnel needed.

"Is there even wifi out here?" Katherine asked as they passed through a tiny town that looked as though it hadn't progressed past the 60's.

"We've adjusted some of our satellites, you should be covered," Coulson assured her.

Leaning her head against the passenger window, Katherine watched as the buildings of the town faded away to dry, desert wasteland. About a half mile after that they passed what seemed like a highly unnecessary sign: now leaving Puente Antiguo, New Mexico.

* * *

 _A/N I'm back again with an update. I hope you enjoyed it! I'm having fun writing it. Don't worry for those who read my other Marvel fics, I'm working on those chapters too. Thanks to everyone who is reading this, who followed/favorited it and who reviews. All of the above keep me motivated to write._

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	5. Chapter 5

**PRESENT DAY: NEW YORK**

Clint ignored his phone when it woke him up. After the assignment he'd been on, all he wanted was to take a nap, then eat and sleep some more. When the phone started ringing again, he removed his hearing aids. He couldn't get in trouble if he couldn't hear. What phone call? He didn't hear his phone.

He wasn't sure how long he'd been sleeping before he woke up to the smell of food, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing, except he lived alone. So who the hell was in his apartment cooking food? Slipping in his hearing aids, Clint grabbed his bow and quiver from beside his bed and made his way quietly down to the kitchen. He didn't lower his bow until he saw Coulson pulling subs out of his oven.

"How did you get in?" Clint grumbled, setting the bow down by the couch.

"Your landlord let me in. You wouldn't answer your phone." Coulson pulled condiments from the fridge. "Do you like mayo?"

"Of course I like mayo." Clint took a seat on the bar stool by his counter. At least he'd gotten his nap, and a sandwich, before he went wherever Coulson needed him to go. "What do you need me to do?"

"Come to New Mexico with me," Coulson said, sliding one sub towards him.

"What's in New Mexico?" Clint bit into the sub, it was pretty good. Maybe even go to New Mexico after just getting off an assignment good.

"An 084." Intriguing. Another pro to add to going back to work without even a full day of rest between assignments.

"So why aren't you bringing it in for the lab rats to check out." Any other time there was an 084 they'd transport it back to the Hub or the Triskelion.

"It won't budge form the rock it landed in. So I'm building a lab around it and flying in the best of the best, which includes you."

"I know I'm amazing, but why do you need a sniper?" All 084s were objects last Clint checked. The threats they caused weren't exactly something an arrow could take care of.

"In case word gets out and someone comes for it," Coulson said, pulling the second sub out of Clint's reach. "You can eat that on the jet. Pack a bag and let's go."

"Will I get to work with a data analyst this time?" He hadn't had to call Katherine in a while and was kind of hoping this assignment would mean he'd have a reason to check in with her.

"It's on my list of personnel to bring in, why?" Coulson asked, watching as Barton collected a pre-packed mission bag along with his bow and quiver.

"Because I happen to know the best tech genius SHIELD employs, and she's field approved."

 **PRESENT DAY: NEW MEXICO**

The car stopped on the hill above a massive crater that was already set up with above ground tunnels. SHIELD didn't waste any time moving in. Stepping out of the car to a gust of wind, Katherine closed her eyes against the sand pelting her. When the breeze died down she wiped her glasses off on her blouse, taking care not to let the sand scratch her lenses.

"Watch your step, it's a long way down to slide," Coulson warned as he started down into the crater.

"SHIELD couldn't have installed stairs or an elevator or something." They'd built a whole city around the thing, they could have added transport down to it.

"And I'm suddenly starting to understand why you and Barton get along," Coulson commented. The two of them whipped out smart comments no matter the situation.

"You know Clint?" Katherine asked as she picked her way down into the crater. She tried not to think how awkward it would be to climb back up.

"He's the one who brought you to my attention," Coulson said, holding a hand out to Agent Lee once he reached the bottom, helping her the rest of the way down.

Katherine had no idea what to think about that. She hadn't expected Clint to talk to anyone about her. She didn't have a chance to ask Coulson any follow up questions as he started right in on the short tour. The tunnels were stifling, trapping in the heat of the afternoon and making Katherine desperate to escape them as soon as possible. Thankfully the main lab area was more substantial, with ceilings and windows and air conditioning. Thank god SHIELD sprung for air conditioning.

Passing by the different stations, Katherine couldn't help but notice every agent wore standard black-ops uniform, save for the senior agents who wore suits like Coulson. It had Katherine feeling completely out of place in her jeans and sleeveless blouse. She hadn't packed anything close to the all-black uniform of cargo pants, tee, boots, and jacket, so changing wasn't even an option.

"You'll be reporting to Agent Sitwell while you're here," Coulson said, introducing the two before leaving Katherine to settle into her work space.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Agent Lee. I hear you're one of the best in your field," Agent Sitwell said as Katherine took a seat at her computer.

"Clint really needs to stop overselling me," Katherine muttered as she logged in with her passcode.

"I'm sure Barton's confidence in you is well founded."

Thankfully Agent Sitwell left her to work alone after that. Katherine wasn't used to supervisors watching over her shoulder while she worked. Agent Johnson took a hands-off approach with their department. They were free to work as they saw fit and call him in if they needed him. Sitwell seemed like one of those supervisors who liked to throw around his power a bit, and Katherine was never good at holding her tongue around agents like that: case in point, Rumlow. At least for the moment she wouldn't have to attempt to keep from blurting out what she thought of him.

Infrared pictures of the 084 lit up the screens above Katherine's, but the read out on it was all over the place. It wasn't any type of computer. She found that out after trying to find whatever wavelength or frequency it emitted electricity on, because it _was_ releasing some sort of electricity.

Abandoning her computer, Katherine approached the tunnels of death. She needed to see this thing up close, not just through a computer screen, to try and help her understand the pulses of energy coming off of it. And the only way to get to it was through the extremely hot, plastic covered walkways surrounding it.

Hopping down from the ladder onto the orange dirt, Katherine breathed in the fresh air that didn't smell like a melting shopping bag and inadvertently started choking on the cloud of dust she'd kicked up around her. Once her lungs calmed down, Katherine approached what looked like a giant hammer; a shorter version of a sledgehammer.

"Looks like the carnival forgot to pack it up before they left town," Katherine muttered to herself as she stepped closer, thinking of the strongman game all carnivals had. There wasn't any obvious signs of electricity that normally presented: no static, no sparks, no shocks. It was just a Hammer. So why was it messing with their signals?

"Back away from the hammer, miss," a rather large agent ordered her as he made his way around to face her. When she saw he aimeda gun at her she couldn't help but roll her eyes. If he thought she was a trespasser SHIELD really needed to reconsider who they recruited. That or how they handled security. It shouldn't be so easy for a civilian to gain access to the center of this thing.

"It's Agent." Katherine stiffened when she heard Clint's voice correcting the agent, not through a com like usual, but behind her. She hadn't known he was going to be there. Turning her back on the idiot goliath of an agent, she found Clint leaning against the ladder she'd climbed down, his arms crossed. He was dressed in all black like the other agents, but he'd forgone the jacket. It showed off his biceps nicely.

"Barton, you know her?" The agent asked from behind Katherine.

"Yeah," Clint smiled, looking at Katherine instead of Richards. "I know her."

"If you're an agent, why aren't you wearing the uniform per protocol?" Richards asked.

"That's because I don't own one," Katherine commented, glancing behind her to see the agent had at least lowered his gun. "And I'm an individualist. Not big on the whole uniform thing. Had enough of that in private school."

"Right, I'll leave you to deal with her Barton." Richards wasn't up to dealing with both Barton and the new agent's sarcasm. It was hard enough for him to tell when Barton was joking or being serious.

Katherine watched as the agent climbed back into the tunnels, leaving Clint and her alone. Which was just a little disarming. Being face to face was completely different than thousands of miles away and communicating through coms. When there were only coms involved she wasn't as distracted by things like Clint's arms, or smile, or eyes. Snapping herself out of it, Katherine approached Clint, stopping before she got too close.

"Hey KitKat," Clint greeted, straightening his stance. "You're shorter than I thought you'd be."

"So are you," Katherine shot back, making Clint smile. Her comment lost its effect when she had to look up to meet his eyes. He wasn't the biggest guy, but that was nothing when she was still half a foot shorter than him.

"Bet I'm better locking than you thought too," Clint countered with a wide smile and a quick wink. "You here to hack the hammer?"

"I'm just trying to understand it," Katherine countered. She wasn't sure it was possible to hack the hammer. It seemed to be a conductor of electricity instead of running off of it. "How about you? What does Coulson have you doing here?"

"I have the great honor of being that things body guard," Clint said, pointing towards the 084.

"So if I would have touched it?"

"I would have had to take you out," Clint said, keeping a straight face that was actually highly intimidating if Katherine didn't known he was almost never serious.

"In that case SHIELD should really put up a warning sign. I don't think the fence and the tunnels and the men wearing uniforms and carrying guns send a clear enough message."

Clint couldn't help but chuckle at her response. He'd missed their easy back and forth. And seeing Kat's facial expressions was so much better than just bantering over the coms. The picture in her file didn't do her smile justice, or the mischievous glint in her dark eyes.

"Agent Lee, there you are," Sitwell interrupted, stopping at the edge of the platform of the tunnels. His gaze flicked between Barton and her before resting on her. "I believe your work station is inside."

"Sorry, got lost on the way to the bathroom," Katherine responded, trying not to crack a smile when she glanced at Clint's face to see him smirking at her retort.

"Just get back to work," Sitwell ordered before stalking away again. Katherine was beginning to see it as a habit of his to give his orders then make a dramatic exit.

"Is he always so…" Katherine paused, trying to find an appropriate description for Agent Sitwell.

"Uptight?" Clint offered. "Yeah, I think it's the suit. His belt and tie are probably too tight."

"I can tell." Sitwell definitely wasn't one for sarcasm.

"I guess should get back to my desk. Which is funny because I thought being in the field would mean I'd get away from my desk. Instead I just get a new one," Katherine sighed.

It wasn't like she hated working at a desk, she just thought fieldwork would shake things up a bit. On second thought. Katherine looked back over at Clint. Having a desk, even during a field assignment, wasn't so bad when it meant she met Clint in person.

"No one else uses channel 6 on the coms but me, in case you get bored at your desk." Clint offered, leaning against the railing of the ladder after Katherine had climbed back up it. As much as he would love to walk her back to her desk and continue their banter, he had a job to do as well.

"Considering the electrical pulses on that thing have nothing to do with anything tech related, I'll probably take you up on that," Katherine said, glancing back at Clint one last time before retreating back to the tunnels. If fieldwork meant more time with Clint, Johnson or Coulson could call her in whenever they wanted, even on her days off.

* * *

 _A/N Hope you all enjoyed the update as much as I enjoyed writing it. Hopefully it won't be long until I can update again! Thanks for those who continue to read this story. It means so much to know other people enjoy it like I do._

 _Onto Guest Review Responses:_

 _Aurro siter of Morro: your Private Messaging is turned off so I'm responding to you here. Yes, Kat will be there during the Thor incident and so you'll get to read what happened on SHIELDS end during that time. I'm so glad you like the story. Don't worry, I'll probably handle any M scenes the way I do with my other Marvel stories: I'll keep it T here and post any M scenes in a separate collection of one shots so you won't have to read anything more than T rated content here._

 _Electric Raven: You're very welcome. I'm so glad this story means so much to you. It's really nice to hear you don't find this super cheesy. I'll do my best with not including depressing stuff. This story is meant to be more humorous, so while it will follow the Marvel Universe through it's darker moments, it will keep the lighter tone (or at least that's what I'm striving to do). I'm honored to be tied as your top favorite fanfic author, it means so much because I know there are a lot of us lol. I'm so happy you left a review and that you would favorite/follow it if you had an account. I'm just happy you're reading it and enjoying it._

 _To the guest who 'Hecka loves this story': Thanks! I'm super excited to see where the story goes (I never fully plan out any of my stories so it's oftentimes as surprising to me where it ends up as it is to my readers.)_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	6. Chapter 6

**PRESENT DAY: NEW MEXICO**

Katherine had been redirecting planes flight paths that went over the 084, per agent Sitwell's request, for the last two hours. It was mind numbingly boring. She'd expected the field to be more exciting than this.

"I think this could be considered a type of torture," Katherine muttered into the com when Sitwell wasn't in the near vicinity.

"At least you're watching inanimate objects that move. Mine is just sitting in the dirt." Clint sat on the platform above the hammer, his legs dangling over the edge as his arms rested on the lowest rung of the railing.

"Did you try shooting one of your fancy electronic arrows at it?" If nothing else it'd be a fun experiment to see what would happen.

"Coulson won't let me." Something about it possibly being unstable and not wanting to start an electronic version of a nuclear disaster.

"Bummer," Katherine said. "Honestly, this seems like a waste of SHIELD's resources. I mean even Eric could do what I'm doing, and he's level 3."

"But he wouldn't be as fun to work with. Besides, agents need to have at least a level 6 clearance to work on this." 084's were no joke in SHIELD. All of them were treated as potential threats, meaning you had to be trained up to a level 6 to work on one.

"At least they didn't send in Rumlow or Rollins." Talk about not as fun to work with.

"Coulson wanted the best and brightest, not just brawn." Rumlow and Rollins were known as the meat to Nat and Clint. They were mostly sent in to draw out the enemy like raw meat to guard dogs. While they kept the enemy busy, other agents would do the brain part of the operation.

"Yeah. One of my first jobs was helping Rumlow on a mission. Talk about leading a horse to water." Rumlow couldn't hack anything even when she fed him the code. "I gotta go. Sitwell's coming back to watch me play the most boring version of virtual keep away ever."

Katherine turned off her com so she wouldn't laugh at something Clint said while Sitwell observed her. She wouldn't put it past Sitwell to confiscate her com, and then how would she entertain herself? Her work was sporadic enough as it was, and not the most complicated of tasks.

"How's everything going?" Sitwell asked, coming to stand behind Katherine's chair.

"I've re-routed a dozen flights, including one headed to Orlando. Glad I'm not a parent on that flight." The parents probably thought they avoided the 'are we there yet' by flying instead of driving. They thought wrong with the layover Katherine just had to add to their flight.

"Right, keep up the good work," Sitwell responded. Clearly he wasn't used to anything more than a direct answer to his questions. He'd have to learn to adapt.

The rest of her first field day was relatively unremarkable. She rerouted more flights, drank more coffee, and talked to Clint when no supervising agents were around. As the sun set, the temperature dropped drastically and Katherine found herself reaching in the bag she packed for a pullover sweatshirt. As warm as the leather jacket would be, the sweatshirt was more comfortable. Plus it had pockets she could stuff her hands in when she wasn't typing.

They started pulling out the cots in the back room later in the evening, around the same time they handed out the night sleeping schedules. They couldn't leave the hammer unprotected, after all.

"What watch are you on?" Clint asked when he got his schedule. He had yet to come down from the platform he'd been sitting on all day, but he wanted to know what shift Kat got.

"The first. What about you?"

"Same. Looks like we'll be having a slumber party." He hoped he'd get the same shift as Katherine. She'd help keep things interesting, and keep him from dozing off.

"I just hope dinner is soon because I haven't eaten since before I flew out here." Although Katherine loved coffee, it wasn't a substantial meal.

The good news, not long after that they passed out food. The bad news, it was freeze dried in vacuum sealed bags. Coulson handed Katherine her bag.

"Is this the stuff NASA eats?" Katherine asked, tearing open her bag and reaching in for a piece.

"NASA wishes they had this," Coulson countered.

"No, they don't," Katherine gagged after taking a bite. The stuff was absolutely disgusting. If this is what it meant to work in the field, Katherine was rethinking the whole field experience thing. She could make it to level 8 without it.

"What flavor playdough did you get?" Clint asked as he sidled up beside Katherine holding his own bag of 'food.'

"Supposedly roast beef, you?"

"Turkey and gravy." That didn't sound much better than hers.

"Is there a vegan option?" she asked, turning back towards Coulson. "At least I know it can't taste worse freeze dried than it normally does."

Coulson heaved a heavy sigh. He wasn't paid enough to deal with Lee and Barton together.

"Don't one of you need to find your cot?" If he could just separate them it would be better. They wouldn't play off each other's sarcasm and no one would have to suffer through a joint attack.

"Nope, I'm on first watch."

"Me too," Clint said with a wide smile.

"God help us," Coulson murmured turning to find his cot. He'd let Sitwell deal with them on the first watch.

Forcing down the rest of their meal, Clint grabbed two cups of coffee while Katherine grabbed a laptop, and they climbed up to the top platform surrounding the 084. The spotlights made stargazing impossible, which was a shame because Katherine heard the desert was the best place to stargaze. Guess SHIELD wanted to prove that wrong.

"So, this is what you did all day?" Katherine asked, her shoulder brushing Clint's as she stared down into the pit below them.

"Pretty much. I suppose all missions can't be exciting. At least this one isn't physically taxing." If he was sitting around all day, at least he got paid for it.

"A lot of yours are." Every time she'd helped him on a mission, there was always a lot of action and fighting, and things blowing up.

"You just get to listen in on the fun parts." A lot of his missions are spent waiting and watching. It just happened he most often needed Katherine during the interesting parts. Not that he minded. He got to seem like a complete badass spy whenever she was on the other end of the com.

"I don't know, this is fun too," Katherine murmured, sipping her coffee. As much as she loved helping Clint out of a bind, she liked sitting and talking with no ninjas, guns, or imminent danger too.

…

"Stop what you're doing and meet me by the weapons van. Coulson's putting a team together to go into town," Clint demanded, causing Katherine to jump in her seat. She'd been close to dozing off as she waited for more flights to cross into her radar.

"How do you know that?"

"I can read his lips. And he is physically rounding up agents. So get someone to cover for you because we both need some real food."

Katherine wasted no time coercing another agent to man her computer. She met Clint outside just as Coulson divided up the agents between cars. He didn't notice them until Richards and a few other agents moved out of the way.

"You two are in separate cars," Coulson said pointing at Katherine and Clint. There was no way anyone could handle them together in such a confined space.

Katherine and Clint shared a look before moving towards separate black sedans. Richards, the big agent who pulled a gun on her yesterday, stood beside the car with the keys, waiting for the other agents to be divvied up.

"I'm driving," Katherine said, holding her hand out for the keys. When Richards didn't seem like he would give them up she added, "it's the least you can do for almost shooting me."

With a grunt of disapproval, Richards handed over the keys, albeit reluctantly. Smiling brightly, Katherine slipped into the driver's seat and clicked her seatbelt into place. She had to move the seat closer to the pedals so she could reach them. She knew she was short, but whoever had driven last must have been a freaking giant. Richards climbed into the passenger seat as she adjusted the mirrors. Once everything was set to her height, she looked to her left, meeting Clint's gaze.

"Last one there pays for food?" Katherine asked, confusing Richards until he realized she wasn't talking to him.

"Are you on a com?" Instead of answering him, she tucked her dark hair behind her right ear, showing the small black com in her ear.

"You're on," Clint's voice buzzed in her ear. She could just make out his smile before the agent in his passenger seat blocked him from her view.

"On three," Katherine said.

"What's on three?" Richards asked apprehensively, only to be met with a countdown that ended with Katherine slamming her foot on the gas and his whole body crashing back against the seat.

Coulson watched as Barton and Lee's cars sped off, leaving a cloud of dust behind them. Apparently separating them hadn't solved anything.

"I now realize that was a very bad idea," Coulson said as he put the truck into drive.

"You're insane, the both of you," Richards muttered, his left hand gripping the armrest and his right clinging to the handle above the door.

"We're fun, you should try it some time," Katherine quipped, trying to coax the car to go faster before she maneuvered it in front of Clint's, cutting him off.

"Do you think they have steak in town?" Katherine asked, her eyes flicking up to the rearview. She smiled when Clint's eyes met hers in the mirror.

"For your wallet's sake, I hope not." Whipping his car to the side, Clint slammed down on the gas pedal until he was beside Katherine.

They were neck and neck for most of the drive, but Katherine pulled ahead at the last minute, turning her car until it was stopped perpendicularly in front of Clint's. She waited for the dirt and dust to settle before stepping out of the car.

"Where'd you learn to drive like that?" Clint asked, rounding the front of the car and leaning back against the hood.

"My dad owned a race track. He had me driving at 13." Her mom put a stop of summers with him when she found out, but Katherine always had a love for driving fast because of it. "Come on, driving circles around you made me starving."

Shaking his head with a wry smile, Clint pushed off the car to walk with Katherine. Richards called after them about waiting for Coulson before leaving, but they ignored him. Coulson had enough muscle to do whatever he came to do.

"Are you sure Coulson won't be mad?" Katherine rather liked her job. She didn't want to be fired, or demoted back down to level six.

"We'll get him a milkshake and everything will be fine," Clint reassured her, holding the door to the diner for her.

The diner didn't have steak, but a double cheeseburger with large fries and a coke was good enough. Much better than the freeze dried food SHIELD had fed them last night.

"Small towns always fascinate me," Katherine commented, finishing off her fries as she people watched out the window they sat by. "Everyone knows each other, making professional and personal lines blend."

Doctors in a small town knew their patients for more than the length of time they treated them. Teachers saw their students more than just in the classroom. They were all each other's neighbors and family.

"Yeah, it's nice. Sometimes I miss it." He'd grown up on a farm in Iowa, remote but not completely isolated from the rest of town. "New York can get a little too fast paced and self-absorbed."

"DC's the same. A bunch of people in suits who think they keep the Capitol running on their own, with cell phones glued to their ears and briefcases always in their free hand." As if wearing designer suits automatically made them important. "But the free zoo and museums are nice."

"Is that how you spend your days off?" Clint had always wondered what Katherine did on her free time. Other than go on double dates at the Kennedy Center with Angie.

"When I can. Although right now I'm spending my days off rerouting planes so they don't interfere with a hammer and whipping your ass in desert car races."

"It's always a bummer when SHEILD calls you in on your time off." Tossing his napkin on his plate, he rose from his seat. "We should probably head back to the cars."

As much as he'd rather sit talking to Katherine all day, they were on the job. Grabbing milkshakes to go, they each carried a drink carrier as they made their way back where they left the cars. Rounding the corner they found agents loading computers into the back of the truck.

"There you two are. You know I could write you up for going AWOL, right?" Coulson said when Katherine and Clint stood before him. It wasn't a nice surprise to pull up and be told Barton and Lee had gone off on their own.

"We brought you a chocolate milkshake," Clint said, offering one of the cups to Coulson.

"Just get back to work," Coulson murmured, taking the milkshake.

Heading towards the building they were clearing out, Katherine stopped by Richards, handing him a milkshake.

"You seemed like a strawberry kind of guy," Katherine said when he stared at her in confusion.

"Thanks." Katherine smiled when he took the cup from her.

After distributing the rest of the milkshakes, Clint and Katherine helped move the remaining equipment into a van once the truck was full.

"Do we even know whose stuff we're taking?" Katherine asked after they'd set a large computer monitor in the van and had moved off to the side to allow the next agents to set their stuff down.

"My money is on her," Clint said, nodding towards the red-faced brunette who yelled at Coulson about how her lab was her life and he couldn't just steal it away.

"I feel bad. I know how long it takes to build computers from scratch. And we just stole a lot of homemade equipment." Not only did the girl lose her equipment, but she was also manhandled as one of the agents physically pulled her out of the van when she tried to get her notebook back. The poor girl was not having a good day

"Her research was a security risk. Coulson wouldn't apprehend it if it wasn't. At least he's paying her for it." The CIA wouldn't even pay for it, they'd just take it in the dead of night without a word. At least SHIELD wrote a check for the inconvenience. "Besides, now you might get to do something other than monitor for planes. They're going to need someone to access her research."

"Got to love silver linings." As much as it sucked for the girl, it might provide Katherine with somewhat of a challenge during this mission if she had any kind of security system on her equipment.

They didn't stick around long after Coulson's confrontation with the girl. Finished clearing out the lab, Coulson gave the order to head out. That time he let Katherine and Clint ride in the same car. Clint grabbed the keys from Coulson before he could change his mind and Katherine called shot gun, leaving Richards and another agent she didn't know to climb into the back seat.

* * *

 _A/N another chapter. I hope you guys enjoyed it. I'm trying to keep each one around the same length, but this one is a little longer than the others. Can't wait to hear what you think._

 _Onto Guest Review Responses:_

 _To The guest who loves the banter: Thank you! I spend a lot of time brainstorming their conversations, things they might say to one another. It's a lot of fun. I'm glad you think it is natural and flows will all while keeping them in character. Hope you liked this chapter!_

 _Electric Raven: I'm so happy you're enjoying my OC and that you're so confident in my ability to merge OCs with the canon world. I am thoroughly loving crafting this story. I've never written such a sassy character and I love playing Katherine's sass off of Clint. I love your points as to why this story isn't cheesy. I love slow burns and showing friendships merging into something more because I feel it creates a believable foundation rather than instantly loving someone. And I'm glad you mentioned this being a scenario that could have happened, because when this story idea came to me I couldn't not write it because I love exploring the inner workings of SHIELD and I love looking at agents who might not be the butt kicking spies and how they would interact with field agents. Thanks you so much for leaving your review. I love hearing your thoughts on the story! Also, I don't know how I update so fast. I've just been having so much inspiration for this story lately that my mind wants to write it._

 _Cheryl: Hope you're just as excited for this chapter!_

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	7. Chapter 7

**NOVEMBER 2010: TRISKELION**

Clint's file popped up on Katherine's dashboard just as she was getting ready to leave for the night. She could have pushed it off on whoever had the night shift, but instead she grabbed one of SHIELD's laptops, shoved it in her bag, and fixed her com back in her ear. It looked like she'd be working overtime again, but this time she would work from home where she could lounge in her pajamas with a glass of wine.

"You're going to have to wait about twenty more minutes before I can help," Katherine greeted Clint, waving goodbye to the agents at the front desk as she left the Triskelion.

"What if I was going to die if you didn't override the weapons system of my target right now?"

"I would tell you that you should have asked for tech help sooner and that you'll have to play dodgeball with bullets until I get home because I'm technically off the clock." This was why Clint always asked for Katherine. She got his humor and she threw it right back at him. That and she was really smart.

"You're off work and still working on my case. You must care about me."

"Or I want the overtime," Katherine pointed out, speeding out of the parking garage. Thankfully, her shift ended well after rush hour. She might even make it to her apartment in ten minutes instead of twenty.

"Admit it, we're besties now."

"It's Eric's first night shift, I didn't want to overwhelm him with you. And Angie's my bestie. You're like, maybe seventh on the list."

"I'm on the list, that's all that matters," Clint smiled as he ducked further down behind the bushes he hid in.

As soon as Katherine got home she bolted her door, stripped out of her work clothes, and put on sweat pants and her old MIT sweatshirt. Sitting cross legged on her couch, she set up the laptop on the coffee table.

"Alright, what can I help you with tonight?" She asked, taking a sip of white wine.

"I need you to shut down the weapons system of my target."

"Seriously? I thought that was a hypothetical situation." She hadn't heard any explosions in the background that time, so she figured Clint just needed her to hack in somewhere to retrieve information for him.

"Half and half. I've been hiding in the bushes for the last half hour. One move and the sensors will pick up on it and I'll be dead."

Pulling up Clint's file on the laptop, Katherine quickly skimmed through it until she got to the part about his target. She needed to know who and where she was hacking before she could even try to gain a connection with the system.

"What quadrant are you in?" The system she was looking at was complicated and the ground it covered was huge. She'd only be able to shut down a quadrant at a time if Clint didn't want his target to know he was coming.

"I'm on the north-west side of the building, about two football field lengths from it." He had no idea what 'quadrant' it was, but hopefully that was enough for Katherine to figure it out.

"Alright, you're a go, just don't go past the pond without telling me," Katherine warned.

"No swimming, got it," Clint said, darting from his hiding spot and making his way closer to the building.

Katherine spent her night switching on and off different parts of the security system so Clint could work his way closer to the target until he made it to the last quadrant.

"Thanks KitKat, I've got it from here," Clint said as he made his way through the shadows. Just because the security system was down didn't mean he was invisible to the guards.

"KitKat?"

"Yeah, you earned a code name, remember. Yours is KitKat." It wasn't the most creative, but Clint liked it.

"As in the candy bar?"

"That'd be the one. Plus you're Kat with a 'K.'"

"You're ridiculous," Katherine said smiling as she took another sip of wine. "I'll be up for a few more hours if you end up needing me again. Good luck."

Katherine clicked off the com, curling her knees up to her chest on the couch. She had a code name.

 **MARCH 2011: TRISKELION**

Katherine had never worked with Natasha Romanoff before. She was under the impression the Black Widow preferred to work alone, and she was beyond qualified too, from what Katherine heard about her. So it came as a surprise when her case file showed up on Katherine's dashboard. She wouldn't lie, she was a bit nervous when she first made contact with Natasha through the coms. The Black Widow was a living legend around SHIELD.

"Agent Romanoff," Natasha answered, hoping against hope SHIELD had given her someone good to work with.

"Agent Lee. I'll be your contact for all things data and tech related." Natasha smiled when she heard the agent's name. Clint had mentioned her, multiple times, as being one of the best. And she trusted Barton's opinion.

"Can you hack the database connecting Tony Stark's suits and house without being detected?" Natasha had tried, but had to stop when JARVIS noticed her. She needed access to the database, but she also needed to keep her cover intact. At least if someone from data analysis did it and got caught, Tony wouldn't connect her to it.

"No problem. I always wanted to know if I was smarter than Tony Stark and his AI," Katherine commented with a smile as she pulled up a blank screen and started working on gaining access. "So what's he like? Is he as arrogant as he comes off on TV?"

"Sometimes worse. Part of it is a defense mechanism to keep people from getting too close." As over confident as Tony could be, Nat recognized an act when she saw one. He did believe he was a genius and better than almost everyone else, but he exaggerated that persona to keep people at arm's length.

"How do you put up with that?" Katherine asked as she considered which pathways to hack so she could slip in under JARVIS' radar.

"It actually makes him easier to manipulate. It definitely made getting in as his assistant easier."

"Is it true he turned over his company to one of his old assistants?" It seemed out of character for someone so egoistical to give up ownership of his company.

"Pepper Potts. She might actually keep his company from going bankrupt." Pepper was a strong woman who didn't take any of Tony's crap.

"I wish her luck. Tony Stark seems to make a lot of messes and as CEO I can only imagine she has to clean them up." Even if he didn't run the company anymore, he was still the face of it. It still had his name on the logo. His actions would still affect stockholders.

"It is kind of like watching a nanny run around after a toddler at times." Lord help Pepper if she ever acted on her feelings for Tony. He was a handful for her even though they weren't dating. "Do you need me to give you some time alone to work on hacking his system in peace?"

"No, I got in five minutes ago." Katherine was just interested in what all Agent Romanoff had found out on her mission.

"You really are the best." Clint hadn't been exaggerating for once.

"Who said I was the best?" Katherine found it hard to believe anyone who knew Agent Romanoff would ever consider her skills the best. True, she was good with computers, but Agent Romanoff mastered an array of skills.

"Just a friend. Can you access any health records as well as the defense protocol for his suits and send it to me?" Nat wasn't about to rat Clint out.

"How far back do you want the health records?"

"Make it four months to be safe. Thanks Katherine." The line went dead before Katherine could consider how Natasha Romanoff knew her first name, let alone ask her about it.

 **DECEMBER 2010: TRISKELION**

Katherine leaned back in her desk chair, observing the changes she'd made to her desk. It was officially Christmas time and she'd decorated her desk with a miniature Christmas tree, lights and ornaments included, and a chocolate advent calendar from the dollar store. No Christmas holiday was complete without a chocolate advent calendar.

Taking a sip of the Christmas flavored coffee Angie had gotten her—it tasted minty with a hint of chocolate—Katherine almost spilled some on her blouse when her com started ringing in her ear. There were no files on her dashboard yet.

"Hello?" She answered. She preferred knowing who she'd be talking and working with before answering, to mentally prepare herself based on the agent.

"Merry Christmas, KitKat," Clint greeted. She recognized his voice, but even if she didn't, he was the only one who called her KitKat. "Or Happy Hanukah if you're Jewish."

"If I was Jewish I'd be working at a family owned business making twice as much as I do now and actually taking a vacation once in a while." God, she couldn't remember the last time she took a vacation.

"But then you never would have met me, and your life would be incomplete."

"Technically we've never met," Katherine pointed out.

"Semantics," Clint shrugged. "So it's Merry Christmas from now on then?"

"Yep. I just decorated my mini office tree, since I'm rarely home enough to enjoy one there. Although I better get leave to go to Christmas Mass because my Aunt and Grandmother won't take work as an excuse and I'll be bombarded with Catholic guilt and be told I'm going to Hell unless I say fifty Our Father's and pray the rosary." Katherine's mother's side was very stereotypical Catholic.

"Wow, intense." Clint's family had always celebrated Christmas more commercially than religiously. "Is that all it takes to get in good with the big guy?"

"Apparently," Katherine retorted with a wry smile, clicking open her dashboard only to find it empty. "Are you on a mission? Because your file didn't pop up on my computer."

"That's because this one doesn't require any data analysis." It was an off the radar, no technology, old school, James Bond type mission to take out a target. He wasn't even allowed to use his fancy arrows. Just plain old fashioned, pointy ones. The only reason he was able to contact Kat was because SHIELD couldn't deny him his hearing aids.

"And communications still patched you through?"

"They don't have access to my mission file. For all they know I was in a do or die situation and I needed your help to 'do' or else I'd die."

"Sneaky, and a little devious. So you don't need my help?" It sounded like this was a social call, but that was probably her reading too far into it.

"Nope. It's boring out here. Remind me what civilization is like." Clint had called for her company. No interaction with anyone was harder than he remembered, and it was really cold in the Alps.

"You mean like having coffee shop coffee that tastes like winter, a warm soft bed to sleep on, and indoor plumbing?"

"I take it back, you're making me jealous. I don't want to hear about civilization."

"I think getting away from everything sounds kind of nice. Maybe I'll rent myself a cabin with no internet access. Force SHIELD to give me a vacation by default."

"Trust me, they'd find a way to contact you." They would send someone for her, maybe even him.

"Or they'd just report me AWOL and then I'd be demoted to less complicated, less entertaining files when I got back."

"But that would mean I wouldn't be able to convince communications you're working on my case and I'd have to break in a new data analyst." Clint doubted there was another analyst who would understand him and his sarcasm as much as KitKat.

"We wouldn't want that," Katherine murmured as she took a sip of her coffee just as a skype message flashed across her screen from Angie in the secret code they'd made up in case higher ups were monitoring their computers.

 _I'm slipping off to 'accidently' bump into Jensen in the elevators. Cover for me?_

Katherine chuckled under her breath before typing back her response.

 _If Johnson asks it's your time of month and you're in the bathroom._

 _Thanks babe xoxo_

"What's funny?" Clint asked when Katherine chuckled in his ear.

"I'm helping with a clandestine, potentially romantic meeting in an elevator," Katherine said, tapping into the elevators on the north side of the building until she found the one Jensen was in, alone. Smiling, she waited until Angie was with him before stopping the elevator and shutting down the camera. SHIELD didn't need to see her best friend flirting with her spy crush.

"How noble of you. But aren't love connections supposed to be natural, not contrived?" Two people couldn't be forced to like each other.

"Shush, let me have my fun playing destiny or fate or whatever you want to call it." Angie would thank her for this small favor. She'd get more alone time to talk with Jensen, instead of staring at his butt in the gym whenever Katherine forced her to work out with her.

"Remind me to take the stairs the next time I'm at the Triskelion."

"Don't worry, I only do this for my bestie. Any love connections you make in elevators will be fates design, not mine." The thought of Clint trapped in an elevator was amusing though. Mainly because Katherine figured he'd bail out through the panels in the top and find a way to get the elevator running again instead of just wait it out.

"It takes more than fifteen minutes of forced communication for me to fall for anyone." Relationships that lasted were built over time with a strong foundation. Or food. Food would also work.

"Good to know, but I'm not expecting Jensen to fall for Angie today. We're just setting some ground work."

"Jensen, huh. He's someone I _could_ see falling in love in an elevator."

"Not nice," Katherine commented, trying to suppress her smile. "But still true. Crap, my boss just came in to make the mandatory morning rounds so he can say he supervises us. I've got to go." If Johnson caught her talking to Clint without a case file present it might have him paying closer attention to her cases. SHIELD didn't pay for social calls.

"Keep me updated on the Angie-Jensen front. I'm intrigued now," Clint retorted before their connection cut off.

Removing her com from her ear, Katherine went to intercept Johnson before he got to Angie's desk. If he found out Angie had abandoned her post to flirt with an agent it would be worse than catching her talking with Clint on the coms. At least Katherine could pretend the computer glitched when it tried to pull up Clint's file. In fact, if she would have thought about that a minute earlier, she would have used it to keep Clint on the line. She enjoyed their conversations. They made her day more interesting.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Hello! I'm back at it again with another chapter. The last few weeks at work have been hectic and draining so I haven't gotten too much writing done lately. But I did manage to finish this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it!**_

 _ **Guest review responses:**_

 _ **To the guest who said this story was awesome and fun: Thank you! I'm having a blast writing this one because it's so lighthearted and has a bit of comedy to it. Sorry it took a while for this update!**_

 _ **Cheryl: The back and forth between Clint and Kat is soooo much fun for me to write. It makes me smile whenever I sit down to write this story. I'm flattered my writing fascinates you, I hope I can continue to enthrall you with my stories. And OMG I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU GOT YOUR HUSBAND TO LISTEN TO YOU READ REHABILITATE AND THAT HE ACTUALLY LIKES THE ACTION SCENES! Reading that seriously just made my month if not year. I always thought of my stories being loved mostly by fellow fangirls (since there's pretty heavy romance in all of them…not that boys don't like romance just that usually I figure they'd want more action plot and less romance main plot if that makes sense). Anyways thanks for leaving a review and letting me know your husband likes the action scenes I wrote.**_

 _ **Rach**_

 _ **xoxo**_


	8. Chapter 8

**PRESENT DAY: NEW MEXICO**

Agent Sitwell was irate when Katherine returned to the SHIELD hamster tunnels, and they hadn't thought to bring him a milkshake. Not that it would help. He seemed like the kind of person that was lactose intolerant as well as intolerant to fun.

"I asked her to join me. Being our data analyst I believed she'd be helpful retrieving the computer systems of Ms. Foster." To Katherine's surprise, Coulson came to her defense, interrupting Agent Sitwell's rant about respect.

"You should tell me before you pull agents under my authority," Sitwell quipped, turning to return to the agent Katherine had gotten to take over rerouting the planes.

"Thanks," Katherine said, turning towards Coulson.

"Next time ask your senior agent for permission before drag racing in the desert," Coulson said. "And if you really want to thank me, you could look into some of Ms. Foster's data to determine if we could use any of it."

"I'm on it." It would definitely beat rerouting planes.

Picking through the pile of electronics SHIELD had confiscated, Katherine spotted a hard drive amidst all the monitors and keyboards. Climbing up on the side of the truck, she leaned forward, reaching as far as she could for the hard drive. When she still couldn't reach it, she stepped into the back of the truck and waded carefully through the computer parts for it.

"I heard Sitwell really laid into you." Clint commented from behind her, causing her to stumble over a computer monitor.

"Yeah, Coulson helped put out that fire. Even though I'm pretty sure Sitwell is all talk." It was never fun to listen to a lecture from a senior agent.

"Coulson's cool like that." Crossing his arms and laying them on the side of the truck, he rested his chin on his hands as he watched Katherine pick through the computer parts. "Need any help?"

"Aren't you supposed to be guarding the hammer?" Katherine asked, turning to face him once she had the hard drive in hand.

"Coulson said he'd let me know via coms if he needed me," he said, tapping his right hearing aid. "So, I'm all yours, even if you don't need help, I've been told I'm great company."

"I'll happily take the company." Hopping down from the truck, Katherine led the way back to an unused corner in the air conditioned Plexiglas box SHIELD had set up.

They sat next to each other, their backs against one of the walls, while Katherine accessed the hard drive with a laptop. Kat's legs were crossed, balancing the laptop on her knees, while Clint's were spread out in front of him. He watched as she pulled up multiple windows and hacked her way through the password protected drive, her fingers flying over the keyboard.

"You make it look so easy," he commented when she got in and started pulling up files.

"I'm sure I'd say the same about your shooting skills." She had yet to see him shoot anything, but from what she'd read and heard, Clint never missed his target.

"Is that English?" He pointed to a file on the screen that looked like gibberish to him.

"I think it's Celtic," Katherine murmured, opening an internet tab and copy and pasting some of the text into the search bar. It was kind of cool to see her work firsthand rather than just hear the results over coms.

Katherine kept sifting through all the information on the hard drive, and there was a lot of information, pulling things she thought might be relevant to the hammer sitting in their makeshift base's courtyard. Most of the scientific stuff she wasn't fully grasping, science lingo didn't come as natural to her as computer code, but she could decipher enough to tell if it was worth keeping for further analyzation by SHIELD scientists.

"I know this can't be very exciting for you. I won't take offense if you ditch me." She'd been sifting through the files on the hard drive for hours, Clint miraculously sitting with her the whole time except when he left to get them water.

"Are you kidding, this is way more fun than watching the hammer," Clint insisted. Katherine was actually doing something. "Even though this girl has more files on her hard drive than my middle school principle had on me. And I had a very large disciplinary file."

Katherine could definitely picture Clint being a trouble maker and rule breaker when he was younger. He had to have started somewhere.

"Yeah, research really was her life," Katherine agreed as she sent off another chunk of files to the science team like she'd done sporadically throughout the day so as not to overwhelm them.

"Personally, I think a little action is good for the soul."

"She definitely wasn't getting any action." Hours upon hours of data and notes were logged, making tracking the girl's days fairly easy. She didn't get much interaction with actual people and her days didn't vary much either.

"I don't think she ever found that important balance between work and pleasure," Clint agreed as he looked over Katherine's shoulder as she sifted through more files and logs of field work.

"Says the guy who's on a mission every other week."

"The key is every _other_ week. And aren't you the one who takes her work home with her?" Clint recalled several instances when Katherine would work his cases from her couch.

"Only on rare occasions," Katherine hedged, not wanting to admit it was only ever Clint's cases she worked on after hours. "I do occasionally have a social life." Most of her social life was thanks to Angie setting up happy hours and game nights, meaning she wasn't getting any action, but she did have one.

Clint was about to comment on that before he was distracted by shadows falling over them from the glass wall to their right. Dark clouds had rolled in seemingly out of nowhere and thunder rumbled in the distance. Katherine was just about to send off the next round of files when her connection became spotty, the screen becoming a jumble of colors and static.

"I guess this means I get a break," Katherine said when she couldn't get the connection back. She'd never had a thunder storm disrupt her internet connection. Not when using SHIELD's satellites.

She closed her laptop just as Agent Sitwell came storming towards Clint and her.

"Lee, I need you to get cameras back up, there's been a breach in the perimeter," Sitwell ordered.

"Connections are down sir, the only way to access the video feeds would be to tap into them remotely." Just as she said it, the sky opened up and it started pouring, the rain drops thundering against the Plexiglas to her right. "And electronics and water don't mix well."

"We're going in blind, Coulson," Sitwell sighed into the handheld radio. It was old school, which was Agent Coulson's style from what Katherine had heard. Sometimes old school tech was the best tech. The stuff was resilient and didn't rely on Bluetooth or internet connection.

"Copy that. The intruder was located on the western side of the compound. I've sent agents in."

Every guy Coulson sent in was bested by the intruder, and he kept getting closer and closer to the courtyard with the hammer. Katherine and Clint listened to it all go down via the radio. Whoever he was, he knew how to fight. SHIELD Special Forces were highly trained and it took a lot to take so many of them down. The intruder was either highly trained, or just really pissed and determined.

"I need eyes up high with a gun," Coulson ordered over the coms, which thankfully Katherine was able to get to work by switching them to the radio signals.

"Looks like I'm up to bat. Wish me luck," Clint said, zipping up his jacket and ducking out into the rain towards the weapons truck before Kat could offer said luck. At least in person. Slipping in her own com, she tuned into the channel Clint was on.

He'd already hopped onto the platform connected to a crane with his bow by that point. She loved how even when Coulson ordered a gun up high, Clint still chose his bow.

"Don't get struck by lightning up there," Katherine commented once she was connected, and was rewarded with a warm chuckle from Clint.

"I'll try my best KitKat." Using his sight to find the intruder, he pulled back the string of his bow and rested his left knuckles against his jaw. To Coulson he added: "do you want me to slow him down, or are you sending in more guys for him to beat up?"

"I'll let you know," Coulson said.

"I really wish I could see the smack down you're about to witness. Coulson just sent in Richards." If any of the agents on site could give the intruder a run for his money in hand to hand combat, it was Richards. The guy was huge.

"I'll do my best to provide accurate, yet entertaining narration."

"Barton," Coulson chided, reminding the two that they weren't alone on the coms as per usual.

"For the good of providing intel, of course sir," Clint amended, but Katherine could hear his smile through the coms. "Like how mud isn't slowing the guy down, but Richards seems to be fumbling in this wrestling match."

"How is that intel?"

"It's accurate and entertaining," Katherine countered, enjoying the mental image of Richards and the intruder mud wrestling in the storm.

With one final kick to the head, Richards was down and not getting back up anytime soon.

"You better call it, Coulson," Clint said, adjusting his hold on his bow. "I'm starting to root for this guy."

"Starting?" Katherine challenged, following behind Coulson until they were standing looking out at the hammer. The intruder, who was a huge dude with hippie-ish hair, had finally made it inside and stood staring down at the hammer. He was so close, yet Coulson wasn't doing anything.

"Last chance, sir." Clint took aim, waiting for the call, only to be surprised when Coulson told him to wait.

Katherine watched in anticipation, not sure what Coulson expected would happen. Then the guy wrapped his hand around the handle and pulled…and nothing. It didn't move an inch no matter how hard the guy tried. And he tried pretty hard. Coulson let the guy let out his frustration until he sagged to the ground before sending in agents to collect him. That time he didn't fight back.

When Clint made it back into their makeshift base his hair had water droplets clinging to it, a few dripping and trailing down his face. Katherine handed him the towel she grabbed once the intruder had finally been apprehended. He took it with a smile and a 'thanks.'

"And here I was beginning to think nothing exciting was going to happen on this mission," he commented as he dried off his hair and face with the towel.

"Too bad Coulson called it off before I could see your archery skills in action." Katherine had always wanted to see Clint in action after everything she'd read.

"The mission is still young. Wait and see if anyone comes to break him out." There were two ways someone could help break the guy out: using physical force like the guy had tried, or being crafty. The second was always Nat's favorite, but it was a lot harder to fool SHIELD than anyone else, especially when SHIELD had Kat.

While Coulson interrogated the intruder, Clint sat watching Kat searching the internet and different government databases for his identity. The storm had died down, meaning the internet was back up, and Sitwell was back to ordering Kat around. This time he wanted her to ID the guy who made their agents look like a sad excuse for mall security.

"Ugh," Kat grunted. "There's no trace of this guy anywhere. He doesn't even show up on a single traffic cam or kiss cam. It's like he didn't exist until three days ago. With all the cameras in the world something would have come up. All I have is this stupid Facebook picture of him eating in that diner in town."

She'd even tried venturing into the dark web, which was technically against SHIELD protocol, but she was desperate. Finding people usually wasn't this hard, even Romanoff had left evidence of her different covers on the internet. Kat knew because it was one of her jobs to delete it.

"Maybe he works for an organization that deletes their agents' identity when they're compromised," Clint suggested. He had no idea how someone would do that, but it sounded like a decent theory.

"We just got him, there's no way anyone's fast enough to delete every evidence of his existence that fast. They wouldn't even be able to confirm he'd been compromised yet." Not unless they were watching him try and fail. Even then, they couldn't scrub all his info in one dump. Not when you take into account all street cameras and drones that take random pictures of people every day.

"Hang on, I got something," Katherine muttered, pulling up an ID with the guy's picture stating he was Dr. Donald Blake. Of course it was completely fake, not only was the picture on the ID the same one Kat found on Facebook, but the real Donald Blake had a sizeable online presence. Which meant whoever made the ID wasn't a professional organization. Even the CIA could do better than that.

"Why would someone create a fake ID for him?" Clint asked, leaning over Kat's shoulder. Water droplets dripped off his jacket onto her arm, but Kat didn't mind.

"Because amateur hour is probably trying to break him out of here using this ID as a cover story."

Clint was impressed, though not surprised, that Katherine ended up being right, and someone came for the intruder using the ID that mysteriously popped up in her search. What was surprising was Coulson letting him go. Although it made more sense when he ordered agents to head into town to get some answers. If the guy wouldn't tell Coulson what he wanted with the hammer, perhaps he'd tell the guy who came to collect him.

"What would you say to another road trip into town?" Clint asked, leaning against the desk Katherine sat at. "One that entails a glass of wine and some light surveillance."

"Throw in a dish of bar peanuts and I'm in," Katherine smiled, pulling her ID from the computer.

"Are you always this easy to sway?" Clint asked.

"Only when I'm hungry. Food is a huge personal motivator," Katherine shrugged as she walked with Clint to the cars.

"So include food when asking for a favor. Noted," Clint smiled, holding the door to one of the SUV's open for Kat.

They were just pulling away when Kat threw her hand out for him to stop the car and rolled down her window. Sticking her head out she called back to the agents huddled by the stairs leading up to the hamster tunnels.

"HEY SITWELL, I'M HEADED TO TOWN FOR WORK PURPOSES. DON'T WAIT UP!" Katherine shouted.

"What was that about?" Clint asked once she closed her window and turned back towards him.

"Coulson told me to tell my superior officer before I go drag racing in the desert again." Technically he told her to get permission, but close enough.

"Lee," Sitwell's voice came over the radio anchored onto the dashboard of the car. "I didn't say—"

Before he could finish, Clint flicked off the radio and peeling out, sending sand flying behind them.

"I might not have a job when we get back." Despite that fact, Katherine couldn't help but laughing.

"Sitwell's all talk. Besides, SHIELD can't afford to lose you," Clint assured her, his eyes darting towards her, barely making out her smile in the dim dashboard lighting. He was telling the truth. No matter how many computer geniuses SHIELD had, Kat was, in his opinion, the best data analyst there.

"I'm not indispensable," Kat countered.

"Maybe not, but you'd be pretty hard to replace." He knew his missions wouldn't be as fun, or successful, without her on the other end of the com. "And if I haven't been fired for the things I've done, you won't be fired for this."

"What things exactly?" Kat asked, turning in her seat to face him, studying his profile. She knew Clint had a penchant for bending the rules, she'd experienced it via coms before, but she'd never done much digging on his disciplinary file at SHIELD.

"I once recruited my target instead of taking her out as ordered." Katherine let out a long whistle in response.

"Yeah I'd say that's way worse than not getting permission for a joy ride to town." At least Katherine was doing it to help with the mission. "How'd SHIELD take that executive decision?"

"Fury wasn't very happy about it, but it all worked out in the end. She turned out to be one of SHIELD's top agents. And a friend."

"A friend huh?" Katherine only knew of one friend that fit that scenario. "So you recruited Nat?"

"I'm not sure if I should be impressed or insulted by your deduction." It insinuated that his only other friend was Nat.

"How did you recruit her without her killing you?" Nat was a force to be reckoned with. Katherine couldn't imagine her letting anyone close enough to talk things out.

"Okay, now I'm insulted."

"I'll have to tell Nat you don't think she can take you the next time I work with her," Katherine retorted with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"Not even. I'm insulted you think so little of my social skills and capability to charm a girl."

"Oh, I have no doubt you can charm girls. But I don't see Nat falling for charm." Natasha seemed incapable of falling for men's charms, she was the one who did the charming.

"I actually don't know why she trusted me. I never asked her," Clint mused.

"Maybe it was your eyes," Katherine commented without thinking.

"My eyes?" Clint asked, taking his eyes off the road to send her a questioning look. They'd finally made it to town.

"Yeah, you have friendly eyes," she recovered, cleaning her glasses as an excuse to break eye contact with Clint. "Or she was impressed by your archery skills."

"I think she was more shocked than impressed. Most people now a days use guns. An arrow wielding assassin isn't too common."

"Why do you gravitate towards a bow rather than a gun?" Katherine asked as they parked in front of the local bar. "It's a lot harder to conceal a bow."

"Maybe I like being noticed." Clint's eyes glinted when they met hers.

"An assassin who wants to be seen, isn't that a bit counterintuitive?" Most assassins tried to blend in, not stand out.

"Not to me. A bow is quieter, I can reuse my ammo, and thanks to whoever makes SHIELD's weapons there are multi-use arrows that can do more than just kill."

"And here I thought you just wanted to be cool."

"I'm flattered you think I'm cool, KitKat." Clint winked as he held the bar door for her. Cigarette smoke wafted out, making her cough a little.

"Don't let it go to your head," Kat threw back once her lungs recovered. She really hoped the wine and intel would be worth the smoke inhalation.

* * *

A _/N: Hey guys. Just got back from the beach where I completely unplugged (at least from writing) and got some good reading in. But I'm back now and I really hope you enjoy this chapter!_

 _Guest review responses_

 _To the guest who mentioned a typo in the last chapter being that Clint and Katherine have already meant and I said they hadn't met yet: That chapter was in the past. I jump from past interactions to the present, so it's really important to note the bold heading that states location and time period._

 _To the guest who wants more now: hope you enjoyed the chapter. Sorry I didn't update in a while, I was on vacation. Hope you continue to love the story._

 _Cheryl: Hey, glad you could catch up! And I'm glad you're loving the back story I'm adding for Clint here and there. I love adding little splashes of his past in and brainstorming what his past must have been like. I'm still working on all my marvel stories, including Anna and Bucky's and Steve and Emily's, I've just been coming up empty whenever I sit down to write them. I know what's going to happen next in some instances, but I just can't make myself write it out well. I'll get there eventually I promise, I'm always trying. But if I'm not feeling a certain story I just move to the next until I find the one my brain wants to work on._

 _Rach_

 _xoxo_


	9. Chapter 9

**JANUARY 2011: TRISKELION**

"Communications, how can I help you?" An agent answered the call coming in from the field, already opening up the directory so she could transfer the call to science, tech, or black ops as needed.

"I need to talk to Agent Lee," Clint demanded, automatically adding, "It's urgent."

"Agent Barton," the agent sighed. He was the only agent who ever asked for Agent Lee directly.

"The one and only." The agent's fingers clacked against her keyboard as he waited for her to patch him through. Urgent usually made them move faster than the sloth's pace she was going.

"Agent Lee is working on another case. I'll patch you through to a free agent."

"I'll wait for her," Clint insisted before the agent could hit the transfer button.

"It could be a while, and you said it was urgent," she pointed out in a flippant tone.

"Urgent as in important, as in it needs Agent Lee to help me with it because she's the best." Despite actually needing tech help, Clint preferred to wait for Kat. She was more fun. Plus, last time he'd gotten a level 3 noob who'd taken forever to solve a passcode which resulted in graze wounds from enemy bullets.

"You do know she's not your personal tech assist, right Agent Barton?" Because by the number of times Barton's files had ended up on Lee's desk, she started to think he believed she was. "I'll patch you through to another agent."

Clint didn't want another agent, but before he could say a word against it he was transferred to another, less competent, less entertaining agent.

"Agent Martinez, how can I help you?" The voice was definitely female, meaning they hadn't given him the newbie agent again. Still, it wasn't Kat.

"I need text from a file translated from computer to human."

"You sound grumpy. Usually Kat's all smiles when she's helping you." Angie had been intrigued when Clint Barton's name popped up on her dashboard. She'd never worked with him before, and she was curious if he'd live up to the hype Kat built up when talking about him.

"Angie?" Clint never knew Angie's last name, just that she was Kat's best friend and worked the tech department with her.

"You do catch on fast. I take it Kat's told you about me."

"Here and there. Sorry, I'm sure you're more than capable, it's just—"

"Kat's more fun to talk to and you've got a repertoire going. I get it." Angie finished for him, accessing the file that popped up in her air drop folder. "Unfortunately, she's stuck trying to help Tweedle-dum."

"Who?"

"Rollins. She pulled the short straw this week and had to take the black-ops calls."

They all hated helping the black-ops crew. Not only were they arrogant, but they were also impossible to teach anything tech related. There was no meeting halfway when working with black-ops. You had to do all the work for them and hope you didn't lose remote access to whatever they needed you to work on.

"I see. In that case, I hope she's got a translator handy that is fluent in meat head and she has one of those squishy stress balls."

"I'm planning on buying her chocolate afterwards. Now I'm really sorry, but unlike Kat, I need silence to work." She didn't want to be rude, but translating the code was hard, and it was made all the harder when she had to try and concentrate on it and what Clint was saying.

Clint waited in silence while Angie worked, wondering if Kat tried to small talk with other agents, because working with him had made it a habit. Or perhaps she always small talked with agents, and it was nothing new once she started helping with more of his missions. He liked to think it was kind of like their 'thing.'

"Alright, done," she said when she broke through the code. "Any last words before I close this file out?"

"Tell Kat I said hi," Clint said as he accessed the now unscrambled file.

"Tell her yourself. I added her direct line to the end of the file." Angie hung up without saying goodbye, a huge smile on her face. She could see why Kat loved matchmaking her and Jensen. It was kind of thrilling.

 _ **Guess who I just worked with.**_ Angie messaged Kat.

 _ **Can you call it working when it's Jensen?**_

 _ **Can**_ **you** _ **call it working when it's Barton?Cause with his constant sarcastic quips, I don't know how you do it. I had to tell him to shut up, politely, so I could focus.**_

 _ **You got to work with Clint?**_ Kat met Angie's eyes with a disgruntled look. That meant if she hadn't gotten black ops today she could have worked with him.

 _ **Don't worry I suspect you'll hear from him soon ;)**_

 _ **What did you do?**_

 _ **Something you should have done a long time ago. You almost done with Tweedle-dum?**_

 _ **God I hope so.**_ It took hours of pain staking patience to work with Rollins, but they seemed to finally have reached a breakthrough. About time, Kat was in desperate need of a coffee break.

She'd just sat down with a fresh cup of coffee when an unfamiliar number popped up on her dashboard. Slipping on her head set, she answered without hesitance. It wouldn't be the first time SHIELD had an agent undercover whose identity was hidden from even the data analysts.

"I hear you spent all morning talking Rollins through his mission." Kat smiled at Clint's greeting.

"Angie gave you my direct line?" Kat guessed. Her earlier comment about hearing from him soon made more sense now.

"After she broke the news about Rollins to me," Clint said, using a flashlight to flag down the extraction team. "I gotta admit, it hurt when communications said they couldn't patch me through."

"I'm sorry." Kat clasped her hands on her desk, preparing to break the news as if he could see her, "I didn't want you to find out this way, but I'm helping other agents."

"I'm disappointed you can't remain monogamous, but I respect your wishes to have an open relationship. As long as I'm still your favorite agent."

"Trust me when I say there is no other agent quite like you."

 **PRESENT DAY: NEW MEXICO**

Kat ordered a glass of white wine from the bar, figuring if she was already in the doghouse with her superiors, she might as well get a buzz for the lecture waiting her when they returned. Besides, they needed to blend in, which was hard enough to do in a small town bar where everyone knew each other. They didn't need to stand out more by only ordering virgin drinks or water.

"Wasn't that guy with the doc we took the computers from?" Clint asked, nodding down the bar where the blonde who tried to steal the hammer sat.

"Yeah. Which makes sense. The alias he used was Doctor Donald Blake, an ex of Jane Foster."

"How do you know that?"

"Facebook," Kat said, showing Clint her phone. "He's in her profile picture from 5 years ago. Which is apparently the last time she took a vacation. If you can call a conference on med tech a vacation."

"I think she has a type," Clint said. The real Donald Blake was a muscular blonde as well. "So did you hack her Facebook on your phone?"

"I didn't have to. Her account is public. Not that setting it to private can keep even an entry level hacker out." Facebook cared more about selling your information than protecting it from hackers, which was exactly why Kat didn't have one.

"So what does it mean that the fake Doctor Blake doesn't have any trace of an online fingerprint?"

"He could be a spy, or one of those weird anti-all-things-technology guys."

"So he's a paradox."

"Hopefully not for long." Time to test out her acting skills.

Downing the rest of her wine in one gulp, Kat rose from her chair, taking care to wobble a little as she approached the bar. Reaching between the mystery blonde and his jail springer to get the bartenders attention, she wobbled more to the left until she crashed into the blonde to keep her balance.

"I'm so sorry," Kat said, her left hand squeezing his bicep in an attempt to distract him from her right hand as she slipped a device the size of an Altoid into his flannel pocket.

"Are you quite alright, miss?"

"Fine, just trying to get some water," Kat insisted, pushing herself upright and turning to the bartender who handed her a glass of questionable looking water. "Thanks."

Keeping up the slight wobble on the way back to their table in the corner had water sloshing onto her hand.

"Let's go before one of them recognizes us," She said as she set the glass of water on the table and wiped her wet hand on her jeans.

"What was that?" Clint asked, rising from his seat and following her out to the car.

"I snuck a prototype listening device an early graduate prodigy from the academy is letting me test out in his pocket. Let's hope it works and we hear something that can help me make a case to keep me from suspension."

"And that we don't end up setting him on fire. If it's still in the testing phase, spontaneous combustion is a real threat. Trust me." He'd had one too many bad experiences with prototypes.

"They'll definitely suspend me if I set him on fire." If they didn't arrest her first. "But my guy is the best. If he says it's safe, I trust it won't explode."

"Oh, he's 'your guy' now?" Clint asked with raised eyebrows.

"Not like that," Kat said, shoving his shoulder playful. "He's my go to in engineering. I met him when he was still a student and I was back for speeches on alumni day. Bright kid, who has the biggest crush on his lab partner without actually realizing it. It's adorable."

"Have you trapped _them_ in an elevator yet?" Clint teased, recalling the time she'd stopped the elevators when Angie and Jensen were alone in one.

"They'd just spend their time getting it to work again."

"I would expect nothing less from an engineering prodigy." Engineers preferred fixing problems than waiting for someone else to fix it. "So who is this engineering genius?"

"Oh no, I'm not letting you poach him from me," Kat said as they pulled up in front of the dust pit that was their base.

Kat's heart deflated as they made their way down to the hamster tunnels. She wasn't looking forward to the yelling lecture that waited for her. Coulson couldn't save her from Sitwell this time. She really, really hoped the prototype worked.

"Lee, you actually had the nerve to come back," Sitwell snapped as Clint and her made their way into the main makeshift building.

"Sir, if I may," Kat started, but was quickly interrupted by Sitwell.

"No, Lee, you may not. You didn't get permission to leave from your supervising agent, and then you ignored the direct order of said supervising agent when I told you to turn around."

"Technically, I switched off the radio so we didn't quite catch what you were saying," Clint interjected.

"That is not the point, the point is—"

"The point is if I hadn't gone to town we wouldn't have this," Kat said, leaning over the closest computer to pull up the audio from the device she'd planted on the blonde guy. Please let it work.

" _Your ancestors called it magic, and you call it science, but I come from a place where they're one in the same._ " The blonde guy's voice came through crystal clear, not at all muffled despite being in his shirt pocket.

"What is that?" Sitwell asked, leaning over her shoulder to see the voice wave lengths bouncing across the screen.

"That is your mysterious almost hammer stealer. I tagged him with a prototype listening device while at the bar tonight," Kat smirked. "So, you were saying?"

"Just don't run off like that again," Sitwell grumbled, taking a seat in front of the computer and forcing Kat to take a step back.

"See, I knew you'd be fine," Clint said as she came to stand beside him.

"Yeah, I'll have to let my engineering guy know his device actually worked." He was going to make a lot of agent's jobs infinitesimally easier.

* * *

 _ **A/N: It's been a while, but it's finally here. I really hope you enjoy this next small installment of the story!**_

 _ **Onto Guest Review Responses**_

 _ **To the guest who is sitting on the edge of their sat waiting: I'm so so so sorry this took so long. I hadn't realized how long it'd been since I'd written. Hope you enjoy this chapter though!**_

 _ **Grazi: I'm so glad you love this story and Kat. I agree, Clint is a great character of the marvel universe. I know this took forever and it's short, but I still hope you liked it. I'm trying to get my groove back when it comes to writing. It doesn't help that my computer charger is just hanging on by a thread.**_

 _ **Kat: Yeah, their interactions are some of my favorite to write. Sorry you ran out of chapters and it's been so long for an update. I don't mind the bias based off your name, I'll take you liking it no matter what the reason is lol.**_

 _ **Kam: I'm sorry you've waited so long. I haven't given up, but sometimes it's harder than others. Sometimes I sit in front of my laptop and nothing comes out.**_

 _ **To the guest who hopes haven't given up on this story: Nope, I'm still on board with this story.**_

 _ **To the guest who needs more: here's more!**_

 _ **Rach**_

 _ **xoxo**_


	10. Chapter 10

**MARCH 2011: TRISKELION**

As the only one in the tech department working the night shift for the weekend, Katherine had the office to herself. Which meant she could play her music as loud as she wanted and push herself across the room on her rolling chair without any complaints. The downside was, after another sleepless night thanks to her neighbors and their large lung capacity, she struggled to stay awake. She was on her fourth cup of coffee and still fighting to keep her eyes open. Part of that might be more from boredom. She hadn't gotten any files since she'd clocked in. What was the point of night shift if no one needed data analyzed? Maybe she could hack the CIA again. She hadn't done that in a while.

Plopping down on her office chair with her new cup of coffee, she pushed off the wall with her feet and rolled back towards her computer station. She pulled up a web browser window just as a file pinged on her dashboard and her earpiece started connecting with whichever agent needed her. The CIA would have to wait.

"This is Agent Lee. What can I do for you, Agent Romanoff?" Kat asked, clicking open the file.

"Katherine," Natasha said. Thank god it was Lee, she needed the best, but she hadn't expected it. Jumping onto the shoulders of one of Hammer's guards, she twisted him up in her legs before bringing him to the ground. "I need your hacking skills."

"What's my target?"

"Hammer industries. The computer being used to control the drones at Stark Expo."

"I wanted to go to that, but couldn't get the leave approved in time," Katherine mused as her fingers flew over her keyboard, trying to find an access point to the system.

"That's good news for the both of us."

"Bad news for Hammer Industries," Kat said when she finally found a roundabout way in when trying a back door didn't work.

Just as she was about to bring up the file running the Stark Suits she was booted out. Whoever had control of the computer was smart. He volleyed codes back at her, making her fight to keep access.

"How's it going?" Nat asked when the silence on Katherine's end stretched longer than normal. Like Clint, Katherine rarely kept quiet while working.

"If you have to ask, not good," Katherine said, typing so furiously she was almost afraid she'd pop a key off her keyboard. She gave a hoot when she finally booted him out, gaining control over some of the drones.

"He's good, but I'm better," she said. With a few more key strokes she ordered the drones she'd accessed to shoot each other until each one had disappeared from the system.

"Impressive," Nat said. "I'm on my way to the control room now, so just keep Ivan out until I can get there."

There were muffled sounds of a fight from Agent Romanoff's end. For as hard as it'd been to get access to the system, it was easy to keep control of it. Out of curiosity, and boredom, she hacked the camera feeds to watch the path of destruction Agent Romanoff left behind. She was about to warn her about one of the guards sneaking up on her, but Natasha maced him before she could utter a word.

Flitting through the different security cameras, she stopped on the one in the computer lab. Instead of seeing her opponent bent over his keyboard, she found an empty chair. No wonder it was so easy keeping control of the network. She wasn't fighting anyone for it anymore.

"So, your evil mastermind is gone," Katherine commented, just before Agent Romanoff crashed through the door of the computer room.

"Damn," she muttered, "all that work for nothing."

"Not nothing." She was pretty sure Agent Romanoff had put the pressure on Ivan and had been the reason he left. "Now that he's gone, I can give Lieutenant Rhodes control of his suit."

With a few lines of code she had Lieutenant Rhodes back in control and gave Agent Romanoff access to Stark via video and com. From what she saw, it wasn't looking good.

"Okay, I'm going to need you back on drone hacking duty. They've got Tony and Rhodes surrounded."

"Yeah, it's gonna take some time. I only hacked the air force drones. Each military branch of drone has a different code language." Even without someone countering her code, it could take a while to get control of the other drones. "I'm going off com, but I'll be active. If you need me, call me."

She'd need her full concentration to get through all the drones, and she wasn't confident she could keep from letting a few curses fly. She didn't think Agent Romanoff would report her for unprofessional conduct if she cursed, but she didn't really know her well enough to be certain.

"Who were you talking to?" Tony asked Natalie, or Natasha. Whoever she really was.

"My tech genius who hacked both your system and Vanko's," Nat said with a smile. She loved it when someone showed Tony up. "She's in the process of gaining control of the other drones."

"Well tell your sidekick I've got this covered, but I'd love to have a conversation with her later, on how she hacked my system without Jarvis detecting her. Maybe offer her a job."

He'd set the system up himself with a dozen fail safes and even more security measures. Anyone who could hack into that without tripping a metaphorical alarm would be worth having on his payroll; working for him instead of against.

"Sorry Tony, she works for SHIELD."

"I'm sure I can pay her better."

"There's more to it than money." She was fairly confident Katherine wouldn't give up SHIELD, who had Clint, for a job with Stark.

 **PRESENT DAY: NEW MEXICO**

"Hey, what's going on?" Kat asked through Clint's com as half a dozen black cars pulled away from their tunnel system toward town.

"Fake Doctor Blake, also known as Thor, has visitors. They're going to check it out."

"And they're not taking you?" She'd have thought they'd want backup should things get violent.

"I'm pretty sure we're both grounded after our stint last night." Though it had resulted in useable data for the team, Stillwell still couldn't get over the fact they'd bent his rules and broken chain of command to get it. "Besides, my main job is to babysit the hammer."

"Now's your chance to shoot a fancy arrow at it. All supervisors are off the premises."

"It's not as fun if there's no risk of getting caught."

"I'm not even going to touch the dysfunction of that statement," Kat said. "But I will ask if you want some company while you sit in epic boredom."

She'd already sifted through the useful portions of Jane Foster's hard drive and set up a system to automatically reroute any flights around the hammer.

"Bring a hat, the sun is brutal up here."

She grabbed two black ball caps with SHIELD's logo before climbing up to sit with Clint, handing one to him. He was right, the sun was burn-your-retina's bright with no cloud coverage. Pulling her ponytail through the back of the cap, she paused when Clint pulled her glasses from her face and slipped them on.

"Woah, you're blind," he said, blinking rapidly as his eyes tried to focus but couldn't with the lenses.

"It's called being nearsighted," Kat said.

"I wouldn't know. I've got 20/20. So how far can you see without these?" he asked, holding the glasses out to her.

"Not very far," she admitted, glancing sideways at him. "How well can you hear without your hearing aids?

"Not very well," he shrugged. "But I'm very good at reading people's lips."

"Do you ever use sign language?"

"I learned, but not many other people know it, so I hardly use it."

After the incident that left him with roughly 20% of his hearing, he'd thrown himself into learning everything he could to help him thrive in his new situation, and he also learned how unforgiving being deaf in a world made for the hearing was.

He was lucky. SHIELD had all the latest tech and was able to give him his ears back, for the most part, via his hearing aids. Still, there were times his ears felt too full, claustrophobic in a way, and he wanted to rip the hearing aids out. But few situations would allow him not to use his hearing aids without making everything harder.

"Teach me," Kat said, turning to face him.

"What?"

"We have time to kill and it could be fun knowing a language most people wouldn't understand but us."

Clint wasn't sure what to say. No one in SHIELD had ever shown interest in learning sign language, especially not once he had his hearing aids. Nat had tried, but for someone who was multi-lingual she kind of sucked at it. Frustrated, she gave up after a couple weeks.

"I can't teach you a whole language in a matter of a few hours." He didn't know if he could take Kat giving up on it when she realized how hard it was.

"You can start. Just think of all the insults we can trade behind Sitwell's back."

They started with the alphabet and finger spelling. Clint would reach out to adjust her finger placement every now and then, but she was a surprisingly fast learner, able to speed spell much sooner than Clint had when learning.

"I'm a tech specialist, having fast fingers is a job requirement." Especially when the agents she helped normally worked under enemy fire and the faster she got answers the sooner they could get to safety.

"So, when do we get to the swear words?" she asked.

Clint smiled. She was the same as him when he started learning the language. Clearing his throat, he gave her the answer his instructor had told him.

"Usually people learn the everyday words first: hello, boy, girl, happy, thank you. Words like that."

"Swear words are everyday words," she said, making Clint chuckle.

"Mimic me," Clint said as he folded all his right fingers down until only the pinky and the pointer finger were left up, like a bull's horns.

Moving his arms out in front of him, his right hand was by his shoulder with the elbow tilted down landing chest level. His left hand rested just below his right elbow tilting down so that elbow hit at his waist. Keeping his right pointer and pinky fingers up, he opened and closed his left fingers to finish the sign.

"What are we saying?" she asked as she copied him.

"A very useful term when referring to anyone on the black-ops team," Clint said. "Bullshit."

"I like it," she said, her eyes shining. "What else do you have for me?"

Time passed in new signs learned as Clint demonstrated and Kat followed. He was in the middle of teaching her 'bastard' when the hammer, which had been securely stuck in the dirt the past few days, launched into the air.

"That's…new," Clint said, jumping to his feet as he watched the hammer disappear. "It's headed towards town."

"Should we follow it?" she asked. "I mean, you are it's body guard."

"It would be reckless to shirk my duties," he said. With a shared look, Kat made a beeline for the ladder while Clint used the ropes from the crane positioned beside the pit to make his way down.

Katherine, having proven herself the driver with the biggest lead foot, drove. Kicking up dirt behind them, they sped towards town. Kat slid the car to a park beside the other black SHIELD sedans. Sitwell stood by one of the cars, waving the dust cloud away with one hand. When he saw Katherine and Clint exiting the car his face hardened.

"Agent Lee, I'm afraid I'm going to have to add 'problem with authority' to your file at the end of this mission."

"I asked her to come," Clint said, as he circled around the vehicle. "I'm guarding the hammer and the hammer left towards town. I needed the fastest driver to get me hear so I can follow my orders."

"Then I'll need to talk with both of your supervisors. Some serious changes need to be made in how you execute said orders," Sitwell said while Clint made the sign for 'asshole' behind his back. Kat attempted to fight a smile by biting her bottom lip, but her lips still twitched at the edges.

"I'm sure director Fury will appreciate your feedback," Clint said, tone high on sarcasm, when Sitwell turned towards him. "Now, about the hammer?"

"It's gone," Coulson said, approaching the caravan of cars. "Let's grab some food and prepare debriefings. Our mission here is over."

The debriefing was done as a group back at the temporary base. Coulson described what had happened in town, the big metal destroyer and Thor's friends getting their butts handed to him before he got his hammer back and ended it all. How Thor promised to help protect earth and had returned to his home planet. Silence met the end of the story. Coming to New Mexico and finding out there actually were aliens, and that at least some of them look very much like humans was…unexpected. And weird. And a lot to take in.

"Any questions?" Coulson asked, instantly regretting it when Barton and Lee's hands immediately went up.

"I don't know anything more about aliens than what I just told you," he sighed. They both lowered their hands. "Great, now wheels up in 40 minutes. Those going to the Triskelion, you're on jet A, New York, jet B, and LA, jet C."

The agents dispersed after that, packing up their personal items as well as the tech brought in. Kat unhooked the last computer system, placing it into a foam padded case when Clint joined her.

"So, how'd you like your first taste of field work?" he asked.

"It was a lot more waiting and a lot less action than I thought," she said. "Angie will be equal parts happy and disappointed that we were never in the crossfire of bullets."

"But we did meet an Alien slash god up close and personal."

"Very true. What about you? Where does this rank in your lineup of missions?"

"It's definitely not the worst," he said, his gaze penetrating as he kept eye contact. "I got to meet you."

"Hopefully I didn't disappoint," she said, ducking her head and tucking her hair behind her ear. One of her fears should she ever meet Clint in person was that she wouldn't live up to what he expected after all their conversations.

"I wasn't disappointed," Clint assured her.

Coulson interrupted before Katherine could find an appropriate response. It was time for Clint to board the jet to New York with the other agents.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Hey everyone! Hope you liked this update. I had fun writing it. This weekend I saw Avengers: Endgame and it sparked some Marvel inspiration. So, I finished this chapter before it slipped away. Hopefully, the inspiration is here to stay. Anyways, until next time!**_

 _ **To the Guest whose butt was sore from waiting on the edge of their seat before the last post: I'm sorry your butt probably got even more sore waiting for this update, but I hope you enjoyed it!**_

 _ **To the guest who flippin loves this story: I'm so happy you're katxclint trash. I hope you continue to enjoy them and I'm sorry for making you wait so long.**_

 _ **To the guest who has to know who the engineering guy is: it's a silent nod to an Agents of SHIELD character, and I haven't decided yet if I'm gonna bring him in as a full cameo in this story yet or not.**_

 _ **To the guest who asked me to keep going: Here's the next installment :)**_

 _ **Thanks to everyone who reviewed/favorited/followed. You're the best.**_

 _ **Rach**_

 _ **xoxo**_


	11. Chapter 11

**PRESENT DAY: WASHINGTON DC**

"God, I missed real food," Katherine hummed as she shoveled in another piece of steak. She had to be careful as she delicately balanced her plate on her knee while she sat cross legged on her couch with Angie.

"You were barely gone a week," Angie said.

"You try eating freeze dried food for more than a meal then get back to me," she said, drenching her next bite of steak in A1 sauce.

After a few more minutes Angie pulled her plate away.

"Enough. Take a breath. I want to know all the details of the mission."

"Well, for starters, Clint was there," she said dodging Angie and grabbing a spoonful of her baked potato.

"You met Barton?" she asked, her eyes lighting up. "Did he live up to your hype and expectations?"

"He exceeded them," Kat said, trying and failing at hiding what she was sure was a sappy smile.

"Tell me everything!" Angie squealed, pouring more wine into Kat's glass. She talked more if she was a little tipsy, and she wanted all the juicy details.

Taking a sip of wine, Kat obliged. She told Angie everything, from Clint telling Coulson about her to him saying she hadn't disappointed him before he had to leave.

"It's a perfect match," Angie said when she'd finished. "Seriously, you two are made for each other."

"So, what did I miss here?" she asked, changing the subject. Just because she hadn't disappointed Clint didn't mean he thought anything more about her.

"Nothing, it was incredibly boring without you here. I was so bored I even went to the gym with Jensen." She'd been desperate to hang out with someone, so she tagged along with Jensen to one of his training sessions. Never again.

"Is that really the only reason you're walking funny?" Kat teased.

"Shut up and stop changing the subject. What's your next move with Clint going to be?"

"I don't have any next moves planned, Angie." Everything about their interactions was spontaneous luck. That's worked for them.

"Then it's a good thing I'm here and that I brought two bottles of wine," she beamed, pulling the second bottle from her purse and setting it on the coffee table.

 **PRESENT DAY: NEW YORK**

"So, an 0-8-4, huh?" Natasha said, choosing two handguns and a semi-automatic before slapping on a vest and following Clint into the tactical room.

"Yep, some magic, alien hammer," Clint said as his eyes adjusted to the dark. "I didn't even have to fight anyone on this mission. And, best part, Kat was there."

Natasha's interest peaked at the mention of Lee being there. If the 'best part' didn't settle it, the smile when he said her name did.

"That doesn't sound like a mission. It sounds like a vacation," she said, leaning against the wall as they waited for the other agents to file in and scoping out the layout of the room for the best vantage points.

"It was definitely worth skipping my weekend off," he said, adjusting the holster on his leg as the warning alarm went off and the doors shut. "So, what's the bet this time?"

"Loser has to give the speech at the academy," she said. They were up in the rotation for an academy visit despite neither attending any of the schools and neither being particularly good at giving inspiring speeches.

"You're on," Clint said, bumping his fist with hers before going their separate ways.

Immediately, he went for higher ground, letting the agents battle it out down below while he took free shots at them from above. He jumped from rafters to the walls, balancing along the edges of the dividers set up around the room, when he was spotted. With the shots he made, he had the bet in the bag. That was until five seconds before the drill ended and Natasha came out of nowhere, hitting him dead center in the back.

"Do we even need to count the others?" she asked with a smirk when he turned his disgruntled stare on her. "You'd need, what, ten kill shots just to match that shot?"

"Side bet?" He offered, hoping he could at least get a consolation prize for his other shots.

"What'd you have in mind?" she asked.

"If I beat you in kill shots for the other agents, you do the paperwork for the next mission of my choosing, including any incidentals."

"Fine. If I win, you work my next rotation with black-ops," she countered.

Used to their antics, the other agents stood in varying degrees of exasperation while Barton and Romanoff argued over what was a kill shot or not.

"That is definitely a kill shot," Clint said, pointing to the smattering of purple paint on the agent's vest.

"How?" Natasha asked.

"It perforates his right lung, and he drowns in his own blood."

"Or, his rib deflects the bullet and he's on leave for a few weeks as he heels from a broken rib."

"I'll take the leave," the agent said.

"But rib fragments could puncture the lung," Clint countered, ignoring the agent's input.

"He would die hours later, and that's if he didn't survive it. Kill shot is instantaneous. You don't get the point for this one," she said, shaking her head.

"Fine. I'm still winning by ten," he said, waving the agent free as they moved down the line.

They were scrutinizing the last agent when Coulson walked by.

"Coulson, weigh in. This is a kill shot, right?" Clint asked.

"This drill is supposed to be about teamwork, not petty competition," he said, eyeing Barton and Romanoff with mild disapproval. "But, yes. That's a kill shot."

"Ha! I win," Clint said, causing Natasha to roll her eyes. "Wanna go for lunch?"

"I'm feeling Thai today," Nat said, following behind him as she undid her safety vest.

 **ONE WEEK LATER: TRISKELION**

SHIELD barely waited a week before calling Kat back into the field. Once again, they didn't tell her where she was going, but that time she made sure to bring black tees, a pair of black jeans, and a black leather jacket in an attempt to fit in with the all-black SHIELD uniform worn by the other agents in New Mexico.

Leaning against the wall just inside the doors to the landing pad with her travel bag in one hand and her phone in her other, Katherine texted Angie while she waited to board the plane. She straightened up when the elevator dinged open at the end of the hall and boots scuffed against the floor. She hadn't been informed there'd be other agents from the Triskelion flying out with her. Pocketing her phone, her greeting died before she even opened her mouth when she saw Rumlow, Rollins, and a couple other black-ops agents walking towards her. Great. As if it wasn't excruciating enough to work with them through the coms.

"Lee," Rumlow greeted as the agents stopped before her. "Johnson's already putting you on a big league mission? I'm not sure you're ready for that."

"I dealt with an 0-8-4 last week, I think I can handle you and the rest of the B-team."

The mission in New Mexico was classified. Only agents directly involved, minus Angie who officially didn't know anything but unofficially knew everything, knew about it. Technically, Kat wasn't breaking protocol by mentioning it was an 0-8-4. That gossip train had taken off well before she'd returned to DC.

"We'll see," Rumlow grumbled.

When the pilot gave them the okay to board, Rumlow and Rollins pushed past her to board first.

"By all means, ladies first!" She called after them, making the other black-ops members who still stood beside her chuckle. At least some of them had a sense of humor. She wasn't sure if it was enough to outweigh the misery of working with Rumlow and Rollins.

Thumbing through the files on the tablet provided took up the first half hour of the flight. She fell asleep during the rest of the flight, and due to possible time zone changes, she wasn't exactly sure how long that was. All she knew was she was jerked awake by Rumlow kicking the back of her seat.

"I still don't understand exactly what my job is," Kat said when Rumlow handed her a bullet proof vest, helmet, and a com. The file hadn't said anything that would lead her to think she needed any bullet proof items.

"It's simple. Follow us and don't get shot. Romanoff will fill you in from there," Rollins said.

Debarkation started before she could ask any more questions. Scrambling to put on her vest and helmet, she paused when the plane door opened to reveal a few meters of sand then a sprawling jungle. And not the concrete kind.

"I don't think getting shot's going to be a problem," she said. Who could possibly shoot at them, monkeys?

"Think like that and you won't survive the mission," Rumlow said, pushing forward and leading the way into the jungle.

Kat was wrong about the whole 'no one going to be shooting at them'. Very, very wrong. As soon as they stepped into the trees, highly camouflaged men rained bullets down on them. She wasn't too proud to say she cowered behind Rumlow as they raced through the trees in a tactical formation—with Rumlow and the others shooting some of their adversaries down—until there was a momentary pause in the gunfire. To her complete horror, the team spread out for a perimeter check leaving her alone in the middle of the jungle. When the floor beneath her gave out, she shrieked, her scream sealed in the underground bunker she fell into when the door she fell through clanged shut.

"It's nice to officially meet you, Katherine," Natasha said, holding her hand out to help her up.

"Agent Romanoff," Katherine greeted, dusting off her pants after rising to her feet. "Want to fill me in why I fell through the rabbit hole?"

"The tact team is trying to access an abandoned bunker where two of our undercover agents are being held."

"And the guys with the guns?"

"Hired mercenaries from the Nua Blanco Cartel who now own the island and the bunker where they conduct most of their human and drug trafficking."

"That's gotta cut down on tourism," Kat said, her stomach turning at the mention of human trafficking. "What do you need me to do?"

"The security system is surprisingly complex. Not only will it self-destruct if we go in guns blazing, it has a Gemini cyber failsafe."

So that's why they needed her even though they had Romanoff. They needed to hack in at two different locations, using the same code at the same time, or else the whole thing would go kaboom. Incredibly hard, near impossible, considering every hacker had a different style.

"Where's my access point?" Kat asked.

"Depends. How are you with heights?"

Following Agent Romanoff's directions, Kat used the tunnels to make her way East while Romanoff headed West. Her access point required her to climb a rusty old ladder and scale the side of a cliff overlooking the ocean.

"I regret saying I'm okay with heights," Kat said when she finally made it to the access point. Pulling the laptop from her bag she plugged it into the port connected to the security panel of the base.

"It was the cliff or a pit of vipers," Natasha said, plugging in her own computer.

"Never mind. The cliff was fine," Kat said, shivering at the thought of snakes. "I'm ready when you are."

It was slow going. They had to discuss their plan of attack before actually typing the code. Synchronized hacking was not easy under any circumstances, let alone when your partner was on the other side of an island and one mistake could kill everyone on said island.

ACCESS GRANTED

Kat let out a long sigh when those words flashed across her screen.

"Now what?" she asked.

"You sit tight for the helicopter while the meat heads and I retrieve our agents and the rest of the people being held against their will."

If Kat hadn't felt like an operative agent before, climbing a rope up to the helicopter while dangling over the side of a cliff sealed the deal. Working in the field was the best and worst kind of adrenaline rush.

Nat had to admit, working with Kat in person didn't disappoint. She was every bit the badass hacker Clint built her up to be. She was impressed.

She refrained from calling Clint until she landed in New York and she was on her way home. Well, to her home base. She rarely stayed there long enough to call it home. She'd been on missions longer than she'd stayed in her apartment in New York.

"It's three in the morning, Nat," Clint said. The vibration of his phone under his pillow woke him up even without his hearing aids in.

"Sorry, my body clock is all screwy. I just got back from a mission."

"How'd it go?" he asked, rubbing his hand over his face and shuffling to the kitchen. He needed coffee.

"Smoother than anticipated," Nat said, smiling. "I got to meet Katherine. I can see why you like her. She's cute, smart, and funny. Not to mention she performs well under pressure."

"Kat was there?" Clint asked. Natasha's smile widened when he didn't refute her saying he liked her. She didn't care if he was still half-asleep, she took it as an admittance that it was true.

"Don't be jealous, I'm sure you two will have more missions together in the future. Or you could stop using work as an excuse to talk to her," she teased.

"I'm hanging up now," Clint grumbled, before ending the call. Since he'd already made a pot of coffee and he wasn't one to let good, or crappy, coffee go to waste, he poured himself a mug. Sitting at the counter, he sipped his coffee as he opened Kat's file from his phone, flipping through to her photo.

 **JULY 2011: SHIELD'S COMMUNICATIONS ACADEMY**

Iced coffee was a godsend. After working a week of night shifts, Johnson sent Kat off to the West Coast to give a speech to each of the SHIELD Academy's when the analyst who was supposed to do the speech came down with the stomach flu. He called her at 0400 letting her know the SHIELD plane would be waiting at the Triskelion at 0600. And now she walked across the front lawn of the Communications grounds in the dry heat of a California summer with a too perky tour guide. As if she needed to be shown around campus. It hadn't been _that_ long since she graduated.

Clint was jet lagged and cursing Nat for winning their bet. The last thing he wanted to do was explain his job to the academy students. That was, until his tour guide led him to the auditorium where the speeches were to be conducted and he found Kat sitting on the steps to the stage, playing on her phone.

"You got suckered into this too?" he asked, causing her head to snap up from her phone.

"Clint," she smiled at him, pocketing her phone and inconspicuously checking him out. He looked good in a grey tee, jeans and black boots. Simple, but she was a sucker for a guy wearing jeans and boots. "Yeah, I got the call this morning that they were sending me out here. What about you?"

"Lost a bet to Nat a couple months ago. I still don't know what I'm gonna say to the students," he said, his gaze sweeping over her when she stood, before resting on her face. He mentally retracted his previous cursing about losing the bet.

"Hopefully the agent from Sci-Tech has something planned because I'm winging it. That's the best Johnson can expect of me with less than 12 hours' notice."

It ended up being agents, plural, from Sci-Tech. Katherine's engineering guy, Fitz, and his lab partner, Simmons had their speech planned down to when they finished the other's sentences. Unless they were just so close, they did it naturally. She hadn't spent enough time around both together to know which it was.

"We definitely should have gone first," Kat said to the crowd when she and Clint stepped up to the podium. Since they've worked together on multiple occasions, they figured it'd be kosher if they combined their unplanned speeches into one gigantic cluster fuck.

"My names Agent Katherine Lee and this is Agent Clint Barton. I'm a data analyst for SHIELD and Clint is a field operative. We've worked together on numerous missions. In fact, my first mission in the field was with Clint."

As soon as the communications students heard she had field experience, their speech turned into a Q and A. Much to Clint and Kat's relief, as they didn't have to think of talking points to fill their timeslot. Instead, the students did the work for them, asking questions about how Kat got into field work, what her first mission was like, and how she and Clint ended up working missions together.

"It all started when she called me an ass," Clint said with a fond smile.

That started a whole new slew of questions. One of the professors had to step in when it was time for the students to return to their classes.

"Well, we have some free time before our speech at Sci-Tech. Want to show me around your old stomping grounds?" Clint asked.

* * *

 **A/N: hope y'all liked the latest chapter. I had a lot of fun writing it :) Thanks for everyone who reads, favorites/follows, and reviews!**

 **Onto guest review responses:**

 **Lizzy B: Glad your loving Clint and Kat. I'm having a blast writing their evolving relationship.**

 **To the guest who thinks this is a fantastic story: Thanks! I'm having fun with it. It's a different style than how I normally write chapters so It's kept things interesting for me. Hope you continue to like it.**

 **Kam: Hope you liked this update as much as the last**

 **To the guest asking me to please update: here ya go. Hope you liked it!**

 **Wieda: your personal message was disabled so I'm responding here: So happy you loved the last chapter. Hope you felt the same about this one!**

 **Rach**

 **xoxo**


	12. Chapter 12

**JULY 2011: OPERATIONS ACADEMY**

None of them looked forward to the presentations at the Operations Academy. Fitz and Simmons because of the rivalry between Sci-Tech and Operations. Kat and Clint because the majority of the graduates they knew personally from Operations were complete tools. But since they had to go, they could at least arrive in style.

"This is our ride?" Fitz asked when Clint pulled up in a black Jeep with the top down and doors off instead of the nondescript black SUVs SHIELD normally used.

"It is," Clint said, slipping on his sunglasses with a smile as Kat hopped into the passenger side.

"SHIELD approved this?" Simmons asked dubiously.

"The proper paperwork was signed off on." Kat shared a conspiratorial smile with Clint, her eyes glinting mischievously. She may or may not have hacked the system and electronically approved the request.

The two scientists piled into the backseat. Clint gunned the engine and they were off. The sun was bright above them as they curved down backroads. Kat leaned her head back, closing her eyes and soaking up the sun as the wind whipped her hair around her. Clint kept sneaking glances at her out of the corner of his eyes. Flipping on the radio, he grinned as a smile lit up her face.

Operations was a completely different atmosphere than Communications. There was PT on the front lawn, with drill instructors yelling like they did in all the military movies.

"Remind me why we're here if none of us actually attended Operations?" Kat asked.

"Didn't Agent Barton graduate from Operations?" Simmons turned to Clint. She thought it was a pre-requisite to be a field operative.

"Nope. Fury recruited me after a one-time stint in the circus."

"You never told me you were in the circus!" Kat rounded on him with mock indignation.

"One-time." He hadn't even made it on the flyer.

"What'd you do before that?" Simmons asked.

"That's not important. What is important is I never attended the academy." He'd have washed out in the first week if Fury tried to send him there. He doubted he could take the instructors yelling at him to move faster without snapping back at them.

"Yeah, the closest here would be Agent Lee," Fitz chimed in, making Clint and Simmons turn surprised glances on him. "She attended a few mixers here when she was at Communications."

"Now who's holding back with their past," Clint said.

"Like playing beer pong with some Operation cadets is the same as a life in the circus," Kat said, turning to face Clint, walking backwards in front of him.

"It was one show," Clint waved it off. "And now I insist we challenge someone to a game of beer pong before the end of today."

"I never said I was any good." Though she was sure Clint's aim would more than make up for her rusty beer pong skills.

"Wait, how did you know Agent Lee attended mixers?" Simmons asked Fitz.

"She tests some of my new gadgets. Sometimes we swap stories about our days in the academies," Fitz shrugged.

"So, Fitz is your tech guy," Clint said in an 'aha' way.

"You're not poaching him from me," Kat said as he held the door open for her.

The group's joking faded when they stepped into the auditorium filled with students dressed in all black, sitting ramrod straight with unimpressed looks on their faces. The audience was disinterested when Fitz and Simmons did their presentation, making the pair even more awkwardly insecure.

"I doubt the charming tale of how you two started working together will go over well with this crowd," Fitz commented as he passed Kat and Clint.

Instead of doing the whole Q&A thing they'd done at Communications, Clint started talking once Kat introduced them.

"Alright, listen up. You all need to stop being overconfident assholes to anyone not in Operatives. Because you know what's going to happen when you graduate? You're going to be in the field, using tech and weapons that someone from Sci Tech makes you and patiently teaches you how to use multiple times to make sure you don't accidently kill yourself. And you're going to need someone from Communications on the other end shutting down security systems, getting your tech to work when it goes offline, and helping you with an escape route when your extraction's been compromised. They might not be able to do our jobs, but we sure as hell wouldn't be able to do our own damn jobs without them."

Without another word, Clint set down his mic and walked off the stage.

"What he said," Kat said, still stunned, and a little turned on, by his speech. "And for the record, Sci Tech is way better at beer pong than you."

 **JUNE 2011: TRISKELION**

"This is Agent Martinez. How can I help you, Agent Romanoff?" Angie asked, taking the patched through call. She'd never worked with Romanoff before. She knew Kat had, and she also knew Romanoff was to Barton as she was to Kat.

"Is that KitKat?" she heard a male voice calling from the background.

"No, now keep your eyes on the road," Nat said, shutting the sliding window from the front of the van to the back.

"Let me guess, that was Agent Barton?" Angie asked with a smile. He's the only agent who regularly worked with Romanoff and who referred to Kat by that nickname.

"He's pouting because I'm calling in and he doesn't get to talk to Lee."

"Kat's not in today anyways," she said, her eyes darting over to Kat's empty desk. She'd been forced to take some time off because she'd accrued too much leave. Even with the mandatory half-days, she'd still probably have use-or-lose leave by the end of the year.

"That wouldn't stop him from calling her."

"And she'd always answer for him." No matter where she was, or what she was doing, Kat always took Barton's calls. They'd once been at a music festival on the Mall and Kat had ducked out to take Barton's call. "But you didn't call to talk about Kat, right?"

"Right," Natasha said, snapping pictures of the paper's they'd stolen from a member of the Portuguese crime family. "I need your help creating a secure line so I can send pictures through to the lab without compromising my alias."

"I think I can handle that." Relieved, her hands flew over her keyboard. Seeing Romanoff's name pop up on her dashboard had her palms sweating, thinking it'd be an impossibly hard task. It _was_ Agent Romanoff, aka the Black Widow. Whenever she asked for help, it usually meant things had gone way past complicated.

"So," Natasha said, pausing to hold onto the side of the van for stability when Clint took a corner too sharp. "You're Lee's friend, right?"

"Her best friend, yes," she said, only half listening to her as she typed in the codes that would allow a private and secure file transfer.

"Then maybe you could get her to do something about her and Clint. I love him, but he's driving me up the wall. They just need to stop dancing around their attraction and hook up already."

Angie paused mid-code. Finally, someone who understood her frustration.

"Right! They've had months of witty, flirty banter. They need to put their money where their mouths are."

"Can you tell Lee that?" She'd tried telling Clint, but he never wanted to hear it. In fact, there were times he'd purposefully turned his hearing aids off so he couldn't hear her.

"Oh, I have. She's stubbornly refusing to take a leap of faith when it comes to Barton."

"We have difficult friends," Nat said, finally getting the greenlight to send the documents through.

"We should start a support group."

 **JULY 2011 SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ACADEMY**

"Alright, after three speeches in one day, we need to blow off steam. Any suggestions?" Clint asked Fitz and Simmons. They'd gone to the academy so they should know the best hang out spots nearby.

"The Boiler Room?" Fitz asked Simmons.

"What's the Boiler Room?" Kat asked after Simmons nodded her head in approval.

"You'll see, follow us," Simmons said, turning right at the bottom of the stairs, away from the parking lot. Apparently, the Boiler Room was on campus.

The Boiler Room turned out to be an actual boiler room, with major modifications. Standing on the metal staircase above the room, music played from overhead speakers as students milled around. There was a fully stocked bar, pool table, retro video games and…

"Look, beer pong. What do ya say, KitKat?" Clint asked when he saw the table set up below.

The two teamed up, taking on the winners of the last game. The students were smart, but not even a masters in geometry could stand up against Clint's aim. He never missed. Kat, on the other hand, fumbled a few times, but overall, they cleared their opponents' cups, becoming the new champs. Soon there was a large group around them and a line of challengers eager to try their hand against them.

"It's mathematically impossible," one of the onlookers murmured when Clint banked a trick shot, showing off a little.

"I'm kind of glad you didn't go to the Operations Academy. Our record in beer pong tournaments would have been much lower," Kat said, taking a swig from her beer bottle. Fitz had bought them both a round when it became clear they wouldn't be drinking much from the red solo cups in front of them.

"Nah. I'd be too distracted with you on the other side of the table," Clint said, causing Kat to miss her next shot.

They won the game on Clint's next turn, but instead of resetting the cups and starting a new game, he let a new set of students replace them. Resting his hand on Kat's back, he led her away from the table and towards the bar on the other end of the room.

"You want another drink?" Katherine asked when she realized where they were headed. She eyed the bottle in his hand. He'd just gotten it.

"Not yet," he said.

A robot manned the small griddle behind the bar, making grilled cheese sandwiches. After paying, the robot flipped two sandwiches on paper plates and the student manning the bar slid them across the counter to them.

"All that winning made me hungry." Taking a bite of the sandwich he stifled a moan at the cheesy goodness. Nothing paired better with beer than melted cheese on toast. He finished it in three bites, washing it down with a few swigs of beer.

"Remind me never to challenge you to an eating contest." Kat smiled at him and took another bite of her sandwich.

"That's nothing, there was an act in the circus who could unhinge his jaw like a snake."

She shuddered at the thought.

"I still can't believe you never told me you were in a circus act."

"It's really not that exciting," Clint shrugged.

With a smirk, Kat dropped her sandwich so she could sign the word 'bullshit' like Clint had taught her. Clint grinned, surprised she'd remembered it, before signing back at her rapid-fire.

"You do remember you only taught me a few words, right?"

"I know." He took another sip from his beer.

"Are you going to teach me what you said?" He'd signed so fast; she couldn't even begin to imitate the words herself.

Slowly he showed her each sign. It took her a few tries but she finally managed to repeat all of it without any mistakes.

Forming his left hand into a fist, he held it up, tilting his wrist down and up almost like he was knocking.

"Yes." Clint said.

"Yes, what?" Kat asked, still unsure what she'd signed.

"Yes, I'd love to go out on a date with you," Clint said, his eyes twinkling, signing as he spoke. Kat blushed, picking up on some of the same signs she'd just learned.

"Smooth," she said.

"I thought so. So, where will you be taking me on our date?" Clint asked, leaning in closer.

"Technically you asked me first," she pointed out.

"Okay, I'll plan it. Any food allergies I should know about?"

Kat didn't have time to ask if he was serious before Fitz and Simmons interrupted them.

"There you two are," Fitz said, pushing through the crowd and stepping between them.

"I just got word from the pilot," Simmons added as she stopped beside him. "Wheels up in twenty minutes. We have to go."

* * *

 **A/N: I had so much fun with this chapter. Hope you enjoyed it! I had someone mention it was hard to follow the back and forth timeline of this story. From here on out I plan on mostly writing in chronological order, but I realize the past chapters might be hard to keep straight on what happened when. So, I will be posting a timeline for everything that's happened in this story so far on my Instagram page (gracelesslyfalling). If you want me to include it at the end of the next chapter as well, let me know!**

 **Wieda: I'm responding to your review here since your private messaging is turned off. Thanks for leaving a review! I'm so happy you love it. Hope you liked this chapter too.**

 **Heaven-water-sister: your private messaging is turned off, so I'm responding here. Glad you loved the chapter. I appreciate you taking the time to let me know!**

 **Rach**

 **xoxo**


	13. Chapter 13

**JULY 2011: TRISKELION**

Shortly after returning from the academy's, Johnson pulled Katherine out of the department by Johnson and led to one of the conference rooms. Inside, agents in suits sat at the horseshoe shaped table facing a wall full of screens, but their attention turned to the new arrivals. Feeling out of place in her black skinny jeans and grey cotton tee that she spilled coffee on during her morning commute, she pulled on her jean jacket, hoping it still covered most of the stain.

"Don't these people believe in casual Friday?" Katherine muttered to Johnson. His lips quivered, trying to hold back his smile as he led her to two open seats on the opposite side of the room.

Desperately trying not to swivel in her chair like she would at her desk, Katherine almost fell off it when Director Fury came strolling casually into the room. Everyone else kept their chill, as though having a meeting with the director of SHIELD on a Friday was completely normal. Maybe for them it was. For her, she'd only met Fury once, during the grueling interview process.

"I'll wait to start until we're all here," he said, making her glance up and down the table. All the seats were filled, who else were they waiting on?

When the screens before them came to life, she realized what he'd meant. Certain agents were tele-conferencing in, with their name and location tagged beneath their video feed. There were agents as far away as Shanghai, and others a day or two drive away, including Fitz and Simmons. She smiled when she saw Clint on one of the monitors, looking casually disheveled as he sat with headphones on, holding a to-go cup of coffee and wearing a SHIELD sweatshirt.

"Good morning," Director Fury started, drawing her attention back to him. "I know this is an impromptu meeting for some of you, but security was of the utmost importance when crafting this team. We had to vet all of you before pulling you in."

Kat's eyes kept flitting back to the screens, to Clint, their gazes meeting several times as he did the same. She forced her attention back to Fury when Johnson nudged her chair with his foot. Apparently, he'd noticed who had her attention.

"We have an Ex-SHIELD agent involved in international black markets involving highly sophisticated technological weapons. Now, each one of you has been chosen based on your specialties. We have our linguistics specialists, who combined are fluent in every language spoken around the world."

Most of the agents around her and a few on the camera shared looks. That explained why Shanghai was conferencing in.

"We also have our bio-engineer team, meant to equip you with the newest gear and tech prototypes," Fury said, nodding at the screen where Fitz and Simmons gave a little wave of acknowledgement.

"We have a data and computer specialist to help us find and monitor our target, as well as diffuse any and all tech he is moving," he continued, looking to Katherine. She awkwardly nodded her head at the attention. It seemed to be enough as Fury moved on to the last member of the team.

"And a field operative, meant to take down our target once we locate him."

Clint smiled, giving a sloppy salute to Fury.

"On the tablets provided before you are all pertinent files to the mission. If you want to decline, do so now. Once you've read the file you're in until it's finished. Any questions?"

The agent to Katherine's left raised his hand.

"Jacobs," Fury nodded at the agent to go ahead.

"Will we be working other cases or only this one?"

"As intel for this mission is limited and updates are unpredictable, you will continue with your regular duties. However, this mission takes precedence over all else. As soon as we get any updates you will be pulled off whatever you're working on to focus on this."

"Are we allowed to discuss the mission?" One of the women on the screens from LA asked.

"Only with those involved. No one outside of this conference can know anything about this mission."

When there were no other questions, Fury dismissed everyone. Angie sent Kat prying looks when she and Johnson returned, and she slipped back behind her desk. She had to send her a message explaining how she couldn't talk about it. Angie understood SHIELD protocol, she just didn't understand Kat following it so strictly. Whatever it was must be big.

"It's killing me not telling her," Kat said later that night, sitting cross legged on her bed with her computer up, looking over facts from the mission and trying to find traces of Gregorio Slater, the ex-SHIELD agent.

"If Nat wasn't on an undercover mission right now, I'd be in the same boat. At least we can talk to each other about it," Clint said through the com. He stood on the roof of his apartment where he had a homemade gym, taking aim at the target across the roof.

"Not that there's much to talk about," Kat grumbled, shifting through video feeds from Munich, Germany, the last known location of Slater.

"We could talk about our date," he suggested, pulling his bowstring back to kiss the edge of his lips before releasing and hitting the bullseye, again.

"What do you have in mind?" she asked, hugging one of her pillows to her chest and smiling.

"I mean, you asked me out," he said, leaning lightly against his bow. "Shouldn't you plan it?"

"You taught me how to sign it. I was oblivious to what I was saying," she pointed out.

"Are you saying you don't want to go out on a date with me?"

"No!" she said a little too emphatically, causing him to smile.

"Don't worry, KitKat. I'll plan the first date," he said.

She barely had time to process the way he said 'first' date before he had to answer an incoming call from Coulson. After he hung up, she abandoned her search for Slater and called Angie, too giddy to focus on the mission.

 **SEPTEMBER 2011 WASHINGTON DC**

Planning a date with another SHIELD agent was harder than Clint anticipated. Days off were few and far between and getting time off at the same time was nearly impossible. Harder yet when they lived in different states and worked out of different headquarters. Not to mention, they'd both been pulled into a long winding case involving an ex-SHIELD agent working with international baddies on black market tech that could wipe out power in a whole country with a few keystrokes that required long hours. Hence why it'd been weeks and their first date had yet to happen. At least they'd been working together more.

"What about next weekend?" Clint asked, ducking behind a concrete pillar of the bridge as gunshots rained down on him from across the deserted highway.

"Hang on," Kat said. Her fingers tapped rapidly across her keyboard as she tried to find satellite images of Clint's location to help provide him with more cover. Pulling up her calendar on the split screen, she clicked on the next weekend. "As of now, I'm not on the schedule."

"Great, I'll be back in the states by Friday," he said, peaking out from the pillar he hid behind to loose two rapid fire arrows before ducking back for cover. The structure shook beneath his back as his arrows exploded and rained down concrete on his attackers.

"Back-up's headed your way," Kat said, switching over to a new internet page to put in her request for official leave. "And I'll see you this weekend. It's a date."

"Finally," Clint smiled, firing another arrow at an approaching adversary.

….

"Alright, let's go over the checklist," Angie said, lounging across Kat's bed. In just a few hours she'd be in New York, finally on her first date with Barton. "Plane ticket and ID?"

"Check," Katherine said, flashing Angie her wallet.

"Killer date outfits?"

"I've got casual, and fancy," Kat said, holding up her two options.

"Don't forget the dark wash jeans. Your butt looks poppin in them."

"They're already packed," she said, tucking her date outfits into her hardcase luggage.

"You better have sexy lingerie and proper protection in that bag too," Angie said, making Kat blush.

"It's our first date." They hadn't even kissed yet. One step at a time.

"Lust doesn't care which date it is. And you and Barton have been holding back for months." Their sexual tension had to be at a 10 by now. Besides, she was flying to New York for the weekend for their first date. That kind of commitment deserved some hot and heavy action.

"Angie," Kat said in a warning tone, watching as she moved to her dresser.

"It's good to be prepared for anything," she said, tossing in a few lacy items. "Trust me, you'll thank me for this."

Angie drove her to JFK airport. Kat gripped her purse tighter the closer they got, her stomach in knots by the time they'd parked and stood by the security line.

"Nervous?" Angie asked.

"And excited," she said, releasing a sigh.

"Text me the second you land and when you get to the hotel. And I want full details of the weekend when you get back, preferably over copious amounts of wine."

"I love you," Kat said, squeezing her friend. "Don't get into too much trouble while I'm gone."

"Love you too, chica. I'm sure you'll get in enough trouble for the both of us. Have fun," she said, waiting until Kat made it through security before heading back to her car.

 **NEW YORK**

The flight was short, though rather bumpy from turbulence. As soon as she landed, she texted Angie then ducked into the bathroom to freshen up: rinsing her mouth with travel mouthwash, and finger combing her hair. It made her feel less like a trash zombie. Making her way down to ground transport, her heart fluttered when she saw Clint waiting for her. He held a homemade sign that read 'KitKat' with the chocolate bar taped to it.

"Cute," she said when he offered the candy to her and took her bag for her.

"How was the flight?" he asked, leading her out to his car.

"It was bumpy, but alright." When they stopped in front of a black jeep with dark purple accents, Kat smiled, remembering their drive down the West Coast while visiting the academy's. "This is your car?"

"I'm not just a city boy. I like to go off roading upstate at times."

"Sounds fun. Is that what we're doing this weekend?" He'd never told her what he had planned, hence packing multiple options for date clothes.

"I figured I'd save that for a future date. I didn't have time to restock the cabin. Besides, this is your first time in the city, I want to show you what it has to offer, other than me of course." If things went well, he hoped to entice her to put in a transfer to New York.

"You're not going to tell me what you have planned?" Kat asked.

"Surprises are more fun," Clint said as he pulled to a stop in front of her hotel. "Dress casual. I'll be back to pick you up in about an hour?"

"Are you asking if I need more than an hour to freshen up?" Kat chuckled at the question at the end of that statement.

"If you do, that's fine."

"I don't. See you in an hour," she winked, hopping out of the Jeep with her bag.

…

Clint took care getting ready, styling his hair three different ways before satisfied and carefully choosing the right cologne before dabbing it on. He'd even called Nat over for help.

"Are you nervous?" she called out from the hall as he rolled up the sleeves of his gray Henley.

"A little," he admitted, as he stepped out and held his arms out, asking for her opinion.

"Switch the sneakers with boots. Kat's got a weakness for boots and jeans."

"How do you know that?" he asked, kicking off his sneakers as he moved to grab a pair of boots from the hall closet.

"Angie told me." Ever since they'd worked together, they'd been comparing notes and trading info to help…encourage Clint and Katherine.

"What else did Angie tell you?" he hadn't known Nat was friendly with Kat's best friend. "And more importantly, what did you tell Angie?"

"Nothing against your best interests. Now go, with traffic your liable to be late if you don't leave now."

Clint wanted to press the issue, but he wanted to be late even less. He'd find out what Nat told Angie later. Right now, he needed to pick up Katherine for their date.

Katherine had Angie on speaker as she got ready.

"Glasses, or contacts?" she asked as she slipped in some delicate hoop earrings.

"Glasses. You're more comfortable with them and Clint has a thing for them. At least on you."

"Really?" Kat smiled as she slipped her glasses back on. "Hold up, how do you know what Clint likes?"

"Natasha mentioned it."

"You talk to her about Clint?" She hadn't known they knew each other well enough to talk outside of work.

"About both of you, really."

Her screen lighting up with a text from Clint distracted her from Angie as she hurried to slip on her black heeled boots.

"I've gotta go, Clint's here. But we're finishing this conversation later."

"Have fun! And remember, use protection!"

Shaking her head, Kat hung up and sent a text telling Clint she was on her way down.

Clint leaned against one of the pillars in the lobby, right ankle crossed over the left, looking sexier than any man had a right to. His face lit up with a smile when she walked out of the elevator.

"No Jeep?" she asked when they stepped out onto the sidewalk.

"We're traveling like New Yorkers tonight," Clint said, resting his hand on her back and leading her towards the subway station.

He pulled two prepaid cards from his wallet, handing one to Katherine. Once past the turnstiles, they funneled down to the train platform with graffiti painted walls until the next train stopped. Katherine assumed they'd be waiting for the next train, as that one was fairly full, but Clint led them into the car once the doors opened. He reached up to grip the metal bar above them, which Kat wasn't quite able to comfortably reach. Seeing this, he leaned down until his lips were beside her ear.

"You can hold onto me for stability," Clint whispered.

Her tentative hold on his sides turned into a tight grip when the train started moving again and had her falling into his chest. And still he didn't move: a solid wall of muscle. His free hand helped right her, instantly loving the added perk of taking the subway.

When they made it to their stop, she untangled herself from Clint and followed him out onto the platform. They hadn't taken more than a few steps when she reached for his hand, interlacing her fingers with his, her insides going wild when he gave her hand a light squeeze.

To her surprise, they stopped at a food truck a few blocks down from Central Park.

"Trust me, they have the best subs in the city," Clint said, stepping forward in line. He ordered first, giving her time to look over the menu and choose which she wanted.

With a bag with two subs and two bottles of water, Clint took her hand again and led her towards Central Park. He led her past sidewalks crowded with people to a hidden bench underneath a tree that had a breathtaking view of the city skyline.

"How did you find this?" she asked.

"Accidentally, on one of my morning runs. When I started planning our date, I immediately thought of it."

"It's beautiful," she said.

"Now it is," Clint said, handing over her sub from the bag.

"Wow, and I thought you were smooth when you got me to ask you out."

"Are you gonna call me an ass again?" he asked, feigning insult.

With a smile, Kat raised her right hand, spelling out the three letters in sign language.

"It's even better when you sign it," he said, biting into his sub.

Conversation flowed smoothly as they ate, broken only when Clint taught her new signs, physically correcting her as an excuse to touch her. Checking his watch, he gathered up their trash. It was time for the next surprise. Another subway ride a few blocks down and they were standing in front of one of New York's many comedy clubs.

"I'm going to get us some drinks," he said once they grabbed two seats up front. "What would you like?"

"Surprise me." He'd done well with the surprises so far.

When he returned with a beer and a fruity looking drink and offered either one to her, she smirked as she took the beer. Unbothered, he slid into the seat beside her, taking a sip of the pale pink drink as the comedian came onto the stage to start his set. He started with a few rehearsed jokes before searching the audience for some adlib.

"It takes one secure ass man to drink that drink," the comedian said when he saw Clint before turning to Katherine. "He has a huge package, right?"

"Why, are you thinking about taking him home?" she fired back at him, causing Clint to smirk around the rim of his glass.

"Normally I'd say something about preferring you and the sexy librarian look, but he looks like he could kill me. I mean, look at his arms. Even his forearms are ripped."

"Now it really sounds like you want to take him home," Kat joked back.

"I probably couldn't handle him if I did," the comedian laughed.

The show got back to scripted jokes after that, and the comedian left them alone until, halfway through the set, both their phones buzzed. As soon as they pulled them out, the comedian went back to roasting them, but neither were paying attention. Because it wasn't a coincidence both their phones went off. It was their SHIELD phones. Fury needed them on duty, tonight. They had new intel on Slater, and they were needed in the field, ASAP.

"I swear, SHIELD has the worst timing," Clint said as they exited the comedy club together, both responding to their texts.

"Slater's the one with bad timing. Bad guys need to learn to respect date night," she said, following Clint down back alleys as he led the way to the New York SHIELD headquarters.

Coulson waited for Barton in the hangar, impatiently checking his watch. His eyebrows raised when Lee came strolling in with him. He'd need to let the Triskelion know they didn't have to wait for her to show up.

"The tracer you put on all street cams got a hit," Coulson said to Kat as they loaded onto the waiting plane. "Slater's in Paris."

"We're going to France?" she asked, taking a seat beside Clint and buckling in for takeoff.

"What's he doing in France?" Clint asked.

"That's up to Lee to find out," Coulson said, setting a laptop on the swivel table in front of the two agents. "You have seven hours of flight time to figure it out."

"I'll get us coffee," Clint said, moving to the back of the plane.

Coulson's gaze flicked between Lee and Barton before he turned back towards the cockpit shaking his head. Whatever was going on between them, he wasn't about to unpack tonight.

"Thanks," Kat said when Clint slid into the seat beside her and handed her a coffee. She kept her eyes on the screen, deep in the depths of the dark web, as she took a sip. Her fingers only hesitated over the keys when Clint's arm grazed her upper back as he rested his arm on the seatback behind her.

He watched her work, her eyes scanning the screen as fast as her fingers flew across her keyboard, and refilled her coffee whenever she needed. It was the only thing he could really do to help. He couldn't do any part of his job until they landed.

"I've got something," Kat said, causing Coulson to leave the cockpit. "There's an underground auction being held, fronting as a charity ball."

"Can you get an invite?" Coulson asked.

"Even better," Kat said, looking up from her computer with bleary eyes. "I've got two."

 **PARIS, FRANCE**

After spending the rest of the flight sleeping, Clint and Kat were whisked away to an abandoned building as soon as they landed. There was a makeshift dressing area, along with a rack of suits and gowns for the two to choose from. Katherine chose a red off the shoulder dress. Red for luck. It also had a long side slit that wouldn't impede her movement as much as a full skirt. Stepping out from their perspective dressing areas at the same time, the two paused as they took in the other. Clint in a suit was a sight Kat wasn't ready for. Especially not the black suit jacket, black tie, black dress shirt combo he wore.

Coulson broke their staring contest, handing them both a masquerade mask and giving Katherine an ear com after ensuring Clint was properly armed beneath the heart stopping suit. Kat took the com, fitting it into her ear, and once again let her eyes trace over Clint, that time trying to figure out what weapons he might have strapped under his suit. He definitely didn't have his bow.

She reluctantly relinquished her glasses to Coulson in exchange for a clutch purse loaded with gadgets including a lipstick and compact that were really a mini USB and computer. Katherine put in the contacts Coulson provided her, not even questioning where he'd gotten them or how he knew her prescription, just happy she could see clearly again.

"Remember, you need to give Lee enough time with the weapon to disable it. And if you have the chance, you're to take Slater in. If not, take him out," Coulson ordered Barton before they were loaded into a town car set for the party.

Kat's hands twisted deeper into the skirts of her dress as the car pulled up in front of a sprawling manor house just outside of Paris.

"Hey, it's going to be fine," Clint said, reaching out for her hand.

"Maybe for you. I've only ever been on the other side of the coms during an undercover mission," she said, adjusting her lace mask.

"Just follow my lead. You're a quick thinker, you'll be fine," Clint said, stepping out of the car first and holding out his hand to help her out, his eyes grazing over her form again. "You look stunning."

He signed the words as he said them. Raising her flat palm towards her face, her fingertips kissed her lower lip before she moved them away, extending towards him in the sign of thanks. Taking his arm, she let him lead her inside. Her heart sped up as they went through security, afraid her bag might set off some alarms, or their made-on-the-spot IDs wouldn't be up to snuff. When they were let through without any questions, she let her tight grip on Clint's arm loosen slightly. The party had already started, as crowds of people mingled around the foyer and music drifted out from the ballroom. Because old, rich houses in France apparently had ballrooms.

"Let's dance." Clint moved them towards the dance floor, much to Katherine's confusion. They were supposed to be finding the weapon, not dance. Pulling her in close, one hand on her lower back and his cheek brushing hers he whispered. "It's a nonchalant way to observe your surroundings."

Although it was a bit harder to concentrate when his dance partner was Kat.

"So, Obi Wan, what are you observing?" she asked, her eyes sweeping the room.

"Guards in the shadows of the second floor," Clint said, suddenly twirling her around before dipping her slow, his face inches from hers. His eyes were such a bright blue. "See for yourself."

He pulled away slowly, and Katherine had to force her gaze up to the wings of the room, seeing movement from the shadows as men lurked around the hall above.

"So, you think the weapon is being held upstairs?" Katherine asked when he raised her from the dip, holding onto his broad shoulders to keep her balance.

"I think the secret auction is taking place upstairs. There's a good chance the weapon is nearby, so they aren't far from it."

"I've got blueprints of the building. You can pull them up on your watch, Barton," Coulson's voice buzzed in their ear, reminding Kat they weren't really alone.

Waiting until the dance ended, the two moved to an isolated corner as Clint pulled up the blueprints. After a quick study, flipping through each floor, he had them memorized, impressing Kat.

"The most secure room would be the office on the second level, back corner of the West wing. That's where I'd keep the weapon if I organized this auction," Clint said.

"And how do we get there without alerting the guards circling the second floor?"

"We don't," Clint said with a smirk.

Clint left a trail of unconscious guards behind them as they made their way towards the West wing. He did his best to move them out of direct sight to buy them time before anyone noticed. Watching him fighting in person was weird. She didn't particularly enjoy violence, but the way he flipped off the hall walls and used everyday items around them to subdue his opponents, all while in a sharp suit, was a bit of a turn on.

"The office is the last room on the left down that hall," Clint said pointing towards the hall to their right. "I'll hold off anyone who comes as long as I can."

Racing down the hall, her skirt billowing around her, Kat's heart raced as she closed the study door behind her. Sweeping her gaze over the room, she bit her lip as she tried to decide where to look first. The weapon was compact, it could be stored anywhere.

"Katherine," a Scottish accent sounded in her ear.

"Fitz?" Katherine asked, confused as to why he was on the com.

"There should be a pair of glasses in your bag. Put them on," he instructed.

Untying her mask, she set it on the corner of the desk in favor of the glasses Fitz mentioned.

"Press the button on the outer right frame twice," Fitz instructed. "It should offer you an infrared, x-ray vision of the room."

"Woah," Katherine said, blinking when she pressed the button like he said. "You designed this?"

"It's still in the prototype phase, but I promise it's mostly safe."

"You could have glossed over that and simply said yes," Katherine murmured, moving around the room until the glasses picked up the small heat signature of an electronic device. It was in a safe inside a hidden compartment of the desk.

Sliding off the glasses and stuffing them back in her bag, she crawled under the desk, and worked the panel free before pulling out the lipstick and compact. Uncapping the lipstick, she plugged the USB into the side of the keypad for the safe. Opening the rectangle compact, the tiny computer connected to the USB via wifi. Using a code, Katherine had the computer in the safe plugging in the correct combination, and the door clicked open.

"Damn it," she muttered.

"What?" Clint, Coulson, and Fitz asked through her com.

"It's built into the safe, practically fused to the walls and the shelf." There was no way she could grab it and go. Running her fingers along the edge of the device, she searched for an entry port.

"Not to be the bearer of more bad news, but I've been spotted," Clint said, as three burly guards came stalking down the hall.

"Can you buy me ten minutes?" Kathrine asked, pulling the port from the safe lock and sliding it into the weapon's port.

"I can try," Clint said, loosening his tie and pulling a knife from a shoulder strap.

Cracking her knuckles, Katherine opened the device's programs, searching for any weak spots. She smiled when she found her opening. Pulling up a new window, she started typing as fast as she could on the tiny keyboard, careful not to mistype a single key. It was dire she type the code right on the first try. The background noise of Clint beating the crap out of people down the hall through her com wasn't helping except to distract her.

"We're out of time," Clint said through her com. "I'm coming to you."

Typing faster, desperate to finish in the seconds she had left, Kat just hit the enter key to submit the code as Clint burst through the doors. Locking them behind him to give them a few extra minutes, Clint crossed the room, pressing on one of the bookcase shelves to reveal a hidden staircase noted in the blueprints.

"Time to go KitKat," he said, reaching his hand back to her.

Reaching down she bundled her skirt together in front of her, tucking it between her legs before pulling each side around to tie it around her waist: girding her loins to keep her skirts from tripping her up.

"Where does this even go?" She asked, a little out of breath as they sprinted up the narrow staircase.

"There's a door that leads off to the third floor, but we're headed to the roof," he said.

Pushing through the door at the top of the staircase, he threw out his arm to stop Kat from tumbling off the edge of the roof. Footsteps echoed around the staircase behind them. Looks like they finally broke through the doors.

"Now what?" Kat said, glancing around. The only way off the roof was down and the extraction point was at least a mile away.

Rolling up his sleeves to reveal a mini crossbow strapped to his wrist, Clint reached down to his ankle and pulled an arrow from the holster strapped there. He notched the arrow into the crossbow, aiming for the trunk of the tree a few hundred yards away.

"Now we cosplay Tarzan and Jane," He said, wrapping an arm around her waist to pull her closer and holding tight to the rope attached to the arrow with his other hand. "Hold tight."

Katherine did as he said, wrapping her arms tightly around him. She held her breath as they jumped off the roof, her stomach dropping out just as the floor from beneath her feet. Closing her eyes, she pressed her forehead against Clint's chest as they swung through the air until they tumbled to the ground together.

Her stomach didn't have time to settle as they ran towards the side wall. She was thankful for taking rock climbing classes as they free-climbed the stone wall. Clint jumped down on the other side first, catching her as she fumbled down after him.

"Whenever I envisioned visiting Paris, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind," she said as they sprinted through lawns and down cobbled streets towards the outskirts of the city and their extraction point.

"SHEILD: you get to travel the world, but you'll be running for your life for most of it," Clint chuckled, slowing to a stop when they reached their extraction rendezvous. "So, did I give you enough time back there?"

"Barely," she said, slipping of her heels and sighing when she stood in the soft grass. Running in heels was no joke. "I just managed to finish the code."

"Code for what?"

"A virus that will corrupt the device and render it useless the second someone checks on it." She flashed a grin at him, her teeth bright in the darkness.

"You came up with a computer virus on the fly?" Clint asked. "SHIELD is so screwed if you ever go rogue."

"SHIELD offers health insurance and much better perks, plus I like my coworkers," she said with a wink.

"They just really need to work on their timing," he said. "I'm sorry they interrupted our date."

"Don't be. This has been the weirdest, most memorable, best first date I've ever had."

She reached out, gripping his suit jacket. He gave her a lopsided smile as she tugged him closer, meeting her halfway with a kiss. His heart thumped hard against his ribcage. Encircling her waist with both his arms, he kept the kiss slow as her hands slid up over his shoulders to rest against the nape of his neck.

"Alright, that's enough you two," Coulson buzzed in their ears, causing them to start, pulling apart. They'd forgotten they were on a mission. "You've got a plane to board, and a debriefing to sit through."

"Worst timing," Clint murmured, leaning his forehead against Kat's as the plane landed in the field before them, the resulting gust of air causing her to shudder. Slipping off his jacket, he slid it over her shoulders before reaching down to pick up her heels. Hand in hand they walked towards the plane.

* * *

 **A/N: THEY FINALLY HAD THEIR DATE AND FIRST KISS! I had so much fun writing this. I hope you guys enjoyed it! As always, a collage for the chapter with their outfits for the ball are on my Instagram gracelesslyfalling. Also, I pretty much listened to 'I like me better' by Lauv during the first half of this chapter then Jeremy Renner's new songs while writing the mission portions.**

 **Guest review responses:**

 **JR: Yay! Glad you are liking the story so much. I'm working on updating as much as possible. Hope you enjoyed this update. It's a bit longer than usual.**

 **To the guest who said I am one of their favorite authors in this fandom: That means so much. I'm touched you like my stories so much that you keep re-reading them. Hope I never disappoint!**

 **Wieda: that's okay I can keep responding to your reviews here. I'm glad you loved the chapter!**

 **Rach**

 **xoxo**


	14. Chapter 14

"Baby up to last weekend. You've got my temperature rising…happy hour tipsy on a Monday. Funny how it changes after one day." How I feel right now Cassadee Pope

* * *

 **TRISKELION WASHINTON, DC**

Kat had a bounce in her step when she walked into work on Monday. Despite SHIELD's interruption and having to fly right back to DC after the mission, it'd been the best weekend she'd had in a long time.

"Someone's in a good mood," Angie commented when Kat set a coffee before her, leaning against her desk and smiling as she took a sip from her own mug. "And on a Monday no less. I take it your weekend with Barton went well."

"Extremely," Kat said, slapping Angie on the shoulder at her devilish smile. "Stop. It was a PG first date."

Well, technically, with the violence that ensued on the mission it was probably more PG-13, but in all other aspects it was tame, and fun, and wonderful.

"How, you were there the whole weekend."

"SHIELD interrupted. Pulling us in on a mission that didn't have us returning until late Sunday night."

"Rude," Angie pouted. "Johnson should know better."

"It's fine. It was still the best date I've had."

"Ever?" Angie asked, with a wide smile.

"Ever," Kat confirmed, pushing off Angie's desk and making her way to her own.

 _ **I wasn't done talking with you**_ **.** Angie's message flashed across her screen. _**Did you kiss? Was there tongue? Has he called you yet? Are you official now?**_

 _ **Yes, Maybe, it's only been six hours since I left, and we didn't talk about it.**_

Angie wasn't the only one who wanted to know if they were official. Opening her email, Kat found one from HR. It was a generic reminder to disclose all inner agency relationships, but it felt a little pointed after her weekend. Deleting the email, she pulled up her dashboard, settling into her work.

 **CLINT'S APARTMENT NEW YORK CITY**

"Someone's got a little extra fire this morning," Natasha commented as Clint powered through the push-up portion of their morning training routine. "Especially for only getting four hours of sleep since your super top-secret mission with Kat that inadvertently interrupted your date with her."

"Three hours of sleep, actually," he said, wiping the sweat from his brow as he caught the water bottle she tossed him and took a swig from it. He was too amped after Kat flew back to DC; he couldn't fall asleep.

"I take it everything went well," she said, moving towards the weights as Clint stepped up to the punching bag.

"I've already browsed available flights down to DC," he admitted. He didn't want to push his luck, but he really wanted to see Kat again.

"I do believe you're smitten, Barton," she teased, meeting his gaze across the roof. She hadn't seen him so giddy after a date in, well, ever. Her smile widened when he didn't deny it. Instead he pummeled the punching bag, his footwork quick with a little more of a bounce than normal.

By the time they finished their workout, it was almost time for lunch, and both were glistening with sweat from the midday sun. The one thing Clint's rooftop gym lacked was air conditioning. But it was private and offered an impressive view of the city. When the doorbell echoed from the external speakers attached by the door leading down to his loft, signaling lunch was delivered, Clint hung back. Natasha sent him a suspicious look when he told her he'd catch up with her in a bit. Glancing back at the door, she noticed him grabbing his phone from the side of the roof.

 **TRISKELION WASHINGTON DC**

Reaching for her phone, vibrating loudly against her desk, Kat paused when she saw the FaceTime request from Clint. Her stomach erupted in butterflies.

 _ **Cover for me. I've got to take a call.**_

Kat messaged Angie before pulling her card from her computer and making her way across the room as fast as she could without drawing too much attention to herself. Leaning against the railing across from a window a little way down the hall, she ran a hand over her hair before accepting the call. Her heart stuttered in her chest when his picture popped up on her screen. He was wearing a cutoff tee, his arm muscles on full display and glistening in the sun.

"Hey KitKat," he smiled. "Is this a bad time?"

"I won't know until I return to the office," she said. If Johnson noticed her absence and didn't believe whatever story Angie told him, it wouldn't bode well. "Angie's covering for me."

"Ah, I'd hoped I'd catch you during lunch," he said, self-consciously running his hand through his hair. "Should I have waited to call?"

"No, I'm glad you didn't," she said. Especially when she got to see him in all his post-workout glory. "Do you have today off?"

"Sort of. Nat and I do PT in the morning every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday when we're not on missions. I swung it with SHIELD so we could work out at my home gym weather permitting and then we head to headquarters after lunch."

"So, I shouldn't expect any file of yours to pop up on my dashboard?" Before he called, she'd kind of hoped it would.

"Probably not. Though you never know with SHIELD." They'd already proven they'd pull him in on a moment's notice. "Speaking of, I had a great time on our date turned mission."

"Yeah, me too." She blushed, biting her lip.

"Is it too soon to ask about our second date?" Technically, their date had ended only hours ago.

"Seeing as it took months for the first one to happen, I don't think there is such a thing as 'too soon' when you work for SHIELD."

"Great, because I'm running a routine training on marksmanship at the Triskelion next week. Which means I'll be in DC for a day or two."

"I knew I should have signed up for that training," she joked.

"I'll give you a private lesson sometime, no charge."

"I'm gonna hold you to that," she said with a smile. It faded when a text from Angie flashed across the top of her screen. "Looks like my break is over. I'll call you later."

"Can't wait," he said. When his screen went dark, he downed the rest of his water and headed inside.

"Did you make sure to flex on your video call with Lee?" Natasha asked, sliding a slice of pizza across the kitchen counter where she stood with a smirk.

"How did you know I FaceTimed her?" he asked, taking a bite out of the pizza.

"I don't reveal my sources," she said coyly.

"Angie?" he guessed, causing her to tap the side of her nose.

"In case you were wondering, Kat enjoyed the view," she said, causing Clint's heart to thud in his chest. "Be thankful she couldn't smell you post workout over the phone."

Clint threw his crumpled up paper napkin at her just as both their SHIELD phones lit up with a call from headquarters.

 **One week later TRISKELION WASHINGTON DC**

"Someone put extra effort into their outfit today," Angie said when she met Kat in the Atrium to find her wearing light tan slacks, a navy-blue blouse, and nude heels. "Does this have anything to do with the marksmanship training and the agent running said training?"

"Is that training today?" Katherine feigned as they stepped into the elevator together.

"What time does he get in?" Angie asked.

"He's already on the course. The first training started at seven."

"And the last one ends?"

"At 4:30. I invited him out for drinks." It was a bit normal compared to their last date, but it was a work night; she didn't have time to take him to all her favorite spots around the city.

"You know we have twenty minutes until Johnson does his morning rounds," Angie pointed out.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, go scope out your man in action."

"He's not my man," Katherine said, trying to hide her smile. "And we've already worked a mission together, so I've seen him in action."

"mmhmm sure he's not. Just go," she said, pushing Kat out of the elevator on the fifth floor, where the shooting range and training rooms were located.

After checking with the secretary on the floor, she was pointed toward training room B at the end of the hall. Grabbing a set of noise canceling headphones from the wall outside, she slipped them on before opening the door to the training room.

Clint was in the center of the room, wearing a black SHIELD t-shirt, the trainees in a semi-circle behind him as he demonstrated technique. Leaning against the wall she watched him hit the bullseye every single time he fired the gun, looking like he was barely trying. When his clip was empty, he slid his headphones off and motioned for his trainees to do the same as he talked them through how to best use alternative sights and how to keep a steady hand. When he noticed her, he smiled, keeping eye-contact as he told his trainees to choose their weapons and practice what he'd taught them so far.

"You're good with a gun," Kat said as he closed the door to the training room behind them. "I've heard you're even better with a bow. If that's true, then color me impressed."

"If you really want to be impressed, you should see me at laser tag," he said, leaning against the door frame.

"Are you asking me on a third date before we've had our second?" Kat gasped, as though it were a huge scandal.

"Technically it'd be a fourth date. I was planning on lunch today on top of drinks after work."

"Two dates in one day?"

"If I'm lucky." He tilted his head to the side with a smile.

"I get lunch at half-past noon today. Meet me in the atrium."

"Should we synchronize our watches?" his smile turned playful as he held up his right wrist.

"I think we'll be fine. Now, I need to get to work, and you should probably make sure your class learns something by the end of the training."

He watched her walk away, his smile softening, before slipping his noise canceling headphones back on and reentering the training room.

…

Katherine regretted her outfit choice two hours in, and wished she'd just gone with jeans. Sure, she looked great, but dress slacks weren't made for comfort. At least not the ones she had on. She'd resorted to unbuttoning the pants and slipping off her heels as she sat at her desk helping Agent Greenwich reprogram his phone. Yes, she was glorified Samsung support at the moment. At least she got paid decently more for doing the job.

"All this new-fangled tech is too complicated. I miss the good old days with walkie talkies or, if they were really getting fancy, shoe phones."

Yeah, Greenwich was old, and he was also a Level 9 senior agent. So, she was doing her best to hold onto her patience as she talked him through the steps for the fifth time.

"What does the red blinky light mean?" Greenwich asked.

"The battery is running low; you need to find a way to charge it. There should be a circular mat where the cupholder would be. Rest your phone on that and it'll charge."

"Doesn't it need to be plugged in?" he asked.

"Trust me, it'll work if you just set the phone on the charging pad."

"The light is blinking green now." Greenwich sounded surprisingly happy.

"It's charging. Anything else you need my help with today, sir?" Her eyes darted to the time on the bottom of her screen and she silently urged him to say no. It was five minutes till her lunch break. She smiled when Greenwich assured her that was all he needed.

Buttoning her pants and slipping her heels back on, she grabbed her purse and made a beeline for the elevators before anyone had a chance to cut into her lunch break.

"Barton," Rollins greeted as he stood waiting for Kat in the atrium. "You on your break?"

"Nah, I'm trying a new approach to marksmen training," he said, moving his eyes around the bustling atrium. Rollins' eyebrows pulled together, clearly not one to understand sarcasm. "Yes, I'm on lunch break."

"Need me to show you where the cafeteria is?" Rollins asked.

"I'm good," Clint said, smiling when he caught Kat's eyes across the atrium. "See you around."

He met Kat halfway, aware of the prying eyes of Rollins as well as the people behind the front desks. He didn't much care what they thought, but HR was a different story. He wasn't about to let SHIELD force them to define what they were to HR before they had a chance to figure it out themselves. He waited until they were strolling along monuments, away from prying eyes of SHIELD, before interlacing his hand with Kat's.

She led him to different food carts, ordering different items from each, before pulling out a small pouch from her purse that unfolded into a blanket she spread on the ground under a tree beside the reflection pull.

"I could get used to this," he said, leaning back on the blanket.

"Food cart hot dogs? You can't get them in the big apple?" Kat teased, grabbing a fry from the pile between them.

"They don't come with such alluring company." It was nice seeing her at work and taking lunch together.

"Or the humidity?" she asked with a smile, pulling her hair up into a messy bun to get it off her neck.

"I suppose the two balance each other out," he said, catching the fry she threw in playful indignation at him and popping it in his mouth.

"Do the free museums and zoo sway you at all?"

"I reserve the right to hold my opinion until you show them to me," he said. "Of course, you'll have to see New York's museums and zoo for a fair comparison."

"Are you asking me on more dates?"

"Depends on your answer," he said, raising his eyebrows as he took a sip of his soda.

"I believe it's my turn to ask you out."

"Then, yes. I'd love to go to museums and the zoo with you." He sent her a cheeky smile that had her biting her lip. Lord help her, but she was a goner.

…

"I gotta say, I'm loving this new giddy, lovestruck Kat," Angie said as they headed to the garage ten minutes before their shift officially ended. Johnson had left early and as long as they didn't run into any supervisors, they'd be in the all clear.

"I'm not lovestruck, I just can't stand another ten minutes in these dress pants," Kat insisted, holding the door close button and their floor number down until they arrived uninterrupted at the garage.

"And you couldn't fake concentrating on work for another minute when your pending date with Barton was ticking closer," she smirked when Kat didn't correct her. "It's okay to like him. From the research I've done, he's a good guy. Of course, I've yet to do face to face recon."

"Are you hinting at something?"

"More like fishing for an invite," she said.

"If you can find out which bar we're going to, you've got an open invite," Kat said, sliding into her car.

"Challenge accepted!" Angie shouted through her closed window before heading to her car.

After a quick shower, Kat changed into jeans, a black tank with her leather jacket, and black heeled boots. Double-checking herself in the mirror, she locked up and headed for Clint's hotel. The bar was walking distance from there, and a metro stop away from her apartment. She didn't want to worry about designated drivers or trying to get a cab.

"So, what's your stance on dancing tonight?" Clint asked as they passed the dance floor on the way to the bar.

"Ask me after I've had a drink or two in me," she said.

"Alright, two tequila shots and two beers?" he asked.

"Corona with a lime, please."

He nodded, stepping up to the bar to order and pulling out his wallet before she could. They took their shots together, then found empty stools at the bar to drink their beers. Sooner than usual the tension of the day eased away as Clint had her laughing and the alcohol had her letting loose.

Halfway through their beers she let Clint pull her out to the dance floor. Apparently, that one shot mixed with Clint's hands on her hips and his body pressed close was enough to make her a little frisky. So, when Angie approached from behind him, tugging a hesitant Jensen behind her and looking triumphant, she outwardly groaned.

"Angie," she said, when Clint turned to see what had caught her attention.

"Did she just hijack our date?"

"I think she's dragging us into a double," she said, reluctantly stepping back from Clint. Taking him by the hand, she led him through the crowded dance floor to Angie and Jensen.

"Clint, this is my best friend, Angie, and her boyfriend, Jensen."

"It's nice to finally meet you." Angie offered her hand to him while sending Kat what was supposed to be a covert look of approval. The fact she'd failed so miserably had Kat guessing they'd hit a few bars before finding them.

"How did the training go?" Jensen asked when Angie finally released Clint's hand.

Leaving to order another beer for the two of them, Kat lost track of the conversation and when she returned and it somehow took an extreme left turn to laser tag.

"You think you can beat us?" Angie asked the guys as Kat handed Clint his beer.

"Babe, we're field operative agents. You and Kat are data analysts. No offense, but you two don't stand a chance."

"Wow," Angie said, crossing her arms. "Care to chime in, Barton?"

"Nope, I'd rather quit while I'm ahead," he said, wrapping his arm around Kat's shoulders and taking a swig of his beer.

"Smart man," Kat smiled, leaning into his side.

"I still think we need to prove Jensen wrong," Angie said, pulling up her phone.

"What are you doing?" Kat asked.

"Finding the closest laser tag place," Angie said. "Aha, there's one a few miles outside DC in Alexandria. Who's up for a little field trip?"

Pulling Clint's arm further around her so she could see his watch, Kat shrugged. It was only eight. The night was young. When Clint and Jensen agreed, they piled into a cab and headed towards Virginia.

"I'm pretty competitive, so no hard feelings for anything I do while in there?" Clint approached Kat after they'd strapped on their laser tag gear.

"No hard feelings. We both play to win."

"Alright," Angie said, pulling Kat away from Clint. "Time to stop fraternizing with the enemy and start talking strategy."

Clint winked at her when the doors to the course opened and they walked in together.

As soon as the lights went out, Kat found a hidden corner and took the eyeglasses screwdriver and pen light she snuck from her purse out of her pocket. Sticking the pen light in her mouth she popped open a panel on her vest and used the screwdriver to turn off the blue lights on the vest so she blended in with the darkness. Now to find Clint.

Reaching up to her glasses, she pressed the button on the side twice. She may or may not have asked Fitz to modify one of her glasses to work like the one she used on the mission in France. It paid to have an engineer from SHEILD in her contacts.

Surveying the area, she was on the hunt for Clint. She found him on the second level, in the far corner, behind the wall. She couldn't hit him from this angle. Which was probably why he chose that position. It'd be near impossible to sneak up on him if her vest was still lit up.

Climbing up the stairs, she kept low to the ground to prevent Clint picking up the movement in his periphery. Creeping closer, she was a foot away when he sprung from his spot, startling her as he took aim and the buzzer sounded on the scoreboard above the door alerting everyone Angie had been hit. He'd just hit her with one shot, in the dark, when she was at least twenty feet away and on a different level of the course. Damn.

Before her nerves could talk her out of it, she stepped forward, pushing Clint's gun to the side at the same time she backed him up against the corner. Their eyes met for a second before she leaned in closer, kissing him. When she pulled back, she met his eyes once more, both their breaths uneven. Without a word she adjusted her arm, pulled the trigger on her gun, causing his vest to blink red when she hit it dead on, and walked away.

Clint stayed against the wall for a few moments, catching his breath and letting his brain catch up to what just happened. Kat ambushed him with a mind-blowing kiss, and just shot him point blank before casually walking away. That was genius…and hot. Mercy, he was falling hard for her.

* * *

 _ **A/N: Next chapter is up. It's a bit fluff filled but I had fun with it. I hope you had fun reading it. I started making mini videos with these two some with plots of the story and some just random side videos for fun. They'll be posted on my Instagram :)**_

 _ **also we should probably discuss THE RATING OF THIS STORY. WOULD YOU WANT ANY POTENTIAL STEAMIER SCENES IN THIS STORY OR JN A SEPARATE SERIES OR ONE-SHOTS? I've done the one shot route with my Bucky/OC story. It's whatever you guys want. If one reader would prefer it being in a separate story I'll do that so everyone can enjoy the story without worrying about reading parts they didn't sign up for.**_

 _ **Your feedback is appreciated!**_

 _ **Onto guest review responses:**_

 _ **Daryl's Lady: your personal message is disabled so I'm responding here. It makes me so happy to hear you chuckle at the banter in the story. I think the banter is what I'm most proud of writing with this story. Thanks for leaving a review!**_

 _ **JR: I'm glad you're loving the story and enjoyed the first date. I had such a blast writing it. These two are some of my favorite to write!**_

 _ **To the guest who is happy they finally got together and want to know how things will go now their 'official': glad you enjoyed it so much. Sorry you had to suffer frustration for a bit till they got together. Technically they have yet to put a label on them or sign the appropriate HR paperwork so that's gonna be fun in the future. ;)**_

 _ **To the guest loved everything about the last chapter and how Clint and Kat got together: thank you! I'm excited for the future of this story as well I just hope you continue to enjoy it just as much!**_

 _ **To the guest who said this story is gold: Thank you! It really means so much you think this story is a work of art. I enjoy writing it so much and the flow of the story is different than what I've tried in the past. Glad to know it's working.**_

 _ **Den: so glad you love it! Thanks for letting me know :)**_

 _ **Rach**_

 _ **Xoxo**_


	15. Chapter 15

**WASHINGTON DC**

"Remind me why you thought running at five in the morning was a good idea?" Angie panted, leaning against the traffic light on the corner as they waited for the 'don't walk' sign to change to 'walk'.

"It's a good way to start the day; gets the blood pumping," Kat said, jogging in place and checking her heart rate on her fitness watch.

"I've got other ways to get my blood pumping," Angie said, reluctantly straightening when the light changed. "We're not all sexually frustrated like you."

"Then why did you agree to come with me?" she asked, turning left off the sidewalk to run alongside the reflecting pool.

The city was still covered in early morning darkness, and the Lincoln Memorial was lit up like a beacon before them. Kat loved the Mall in the moments before the sun rose, all the white marbled monuments illuminated by soft yellow light and, for a small time, free of tourists. It was peaceful.

"Because Jensen's on assignment," she admitted.

"Who's sexually frustrated now?" Kat asked, speeding up as they approached the Lincoln Memorial.

"No," Angie pleaded when she realized Kat meant to run up the stairs.

"Would you rather I turn left on 23rd? We could run along the Potomac until we reach the Jefferson Memorial," she offered, as she turned to face Angie, jogging in place in front of the stairs.

"Why can't our girl time be mani-pedi's or spa days like normal people," she relented, trailing Kat up the steps.

"How about a movie with a bottle of wine tonight?" Kat offered. "With the promise of a spa-day the next weekend we have off together."

"Deal," Angie huffed out when they finally made it to the top of the steps. She collapsed on the stone stairs with her legs splayed out in front of her while Kat took a panoramic picture on her phone.

 **Can't beat this view**. She sent the message along with the picture.

 **Wanna bet?** Clint responded, sending back a pic of the New York skyline.

Snapping a selfie with her nose scrunched up, playfully sticking her tongue out in jest, she sent it without considering her wind-tousled hair or the sheen of sweat on her face from her run.

 **Nothing beats that view.** Clint texted back.

Blushing, she smiled at his response, biting her thumb nail as she contemplated a good comeback. He beat her to it.

 **When do I get to see it in person again?**

 **I believe it's my turn to come to you.**

"Is that Clint?" Angie asked, noting Kat's smile and flushed face that had nothing to do with their run. "Doesn't sexting defeat the purpose of running?"

Gently shoving her shoulder, Kat hushed her. Before she could refute her assumption any further, her phone buzzed with another text.

 **Name the days and I'll be free.**

Kat's smile widened.

 **Does that sound too eager?** He added a second later

 **You're definitely not playing hard to get.** Kat responded

 **Good, I'm not trying to.**

Peering over Kat's shoulder, Angie's eyes brightened as she read the texts.

"Looks like we're replacing movie and wine with shopping for a new date outfit."

 **NEW YORK CITY**

"So, you offered her to stay at your place instead of a hotel," Nat said, throwing a punch at Clint only to have him catch it, twisting her fist in his grasp and sweeping her legs out from under her. She fell to the mat, pulling him with her.

"Financially, it doesn't make sense for us to keep paying for hotels whenever we want to see each other," he defended. Hotels in New York weren't cheap.

"Uh-huh, sure." Nat smirked, wrapping her legs around Clint's waist and twisting until she was on top.

"Do you think it's too soon?" He asked, jamming his elbow into her thigh so he could roll out of the pin.

"After almost a year of flirting before finally acting on it, I'm not sure you even know what moving too fast is," she teased, rolling into a crouch. "Either of you."

"Reassuring and insulting," he said, rising to his feet only for Nat to launch herself on his shoulders and put him in a chokehold with her thighs.

"You come to me for honesty, not sensitivity," she said, jumping down when Clint slapped his hand against her thigh in a sign for mercy.

"I thought I came to you for support," he said, grabbing a towel and wiping the sweat off his face.

"I'm supportive in a brutally honest way," she shrugged, sipping from her water bottle. "Deal with it."

"Okay, how's this for brutally honest? Don't use your spare key this weekend."

"Good. Angie and I really need you and Kat to get out all your pent-up sexual frustration," she smirked, laughing as she dodged the towel he flung at her.

 **KAT'S APARTMENT, WASHINGTON DC**

"Make sure you shave everywhere," Angie instructed. She lounged on Kat's bed with her phone as Kat once again prepared for another weekend with Clint.

"You know, I don't push myself into your and Jensen's relationship," Kat shouted over the running water.

"You did when we first got together. Exhibit A: the elevator."

"That's different. I was helping you," she insisted.

"And this is me helping you," Angie shouted back, scrolling through her photos and deleting old ones when a text from Natasha popped up.

 **Does Kat like burgers or fajitas?**

 **Both. Why?** Angie texted back.

 **I'm on a grocery run with Clint. His culinary skills are limited.** Nat had to convince him to cook. He thought they'd be fine with take-out. But cooking for a woman was more romantic. **What's her drink of choice?**

 **Honestly? Corona. But wine's more romantic. She prefers white over red. Nothing too sweet.**

"Tell Jensen I say hi," Kat said when she came out of the bathroom in her robe and saw Angie typing away on her phone.

"It's actually Natasha," Angie said, sending another response.

"Are you sure you're not using Clint and me as an excuse to flirt with her?" Kat teased, patting her wet hair with a towel.

"Please, I'm totally committed to Jensen. And even if I wasn't, she's way out of my league. This is strictly us helping out our best friends." Or more accurately helping their best friends get it on.

"Okay, but as your best friend, I need you to know that no one is out of your league. You're leagues above everyone else."

"You too boo," she said, glancing up from her phone only to launch herself across the bed and yank at the item of clothing Kat was about to put in her bag. "You are _not_ packing that ratty old sleep shirt."

"It's comfortable," she defended, making a grab for it but missing when Angie pulled it back then promptly sat on it.

"You can't wear something that _comfortable_ to sleep in on your first weekend at Clint's apartment."

"You're being ridiculous."

"You're still not getting the shirt back."

 **CLINT'S APARTMENT, NEW YORK CITY**

"What are you doing?" Clint asked, watching as Nat wrestled to get a new fitted sheet over his bed. The rest of his bedding was discarded in a pile in the corner.

"Changing your sheets," she said, her voice strangled as she finally forced the last corner over the edge of the bed only to groan when the opposite corner popped free.

"Why?" He asked, moving towards the other corner when she ordered him to help.

"Because fresh sheets are a basic nicety for when you have a girl staying the night."

"You're assuming we're sharing a bed."

"She has to sleep somewhere, and you're not having her sleep on that god-awful pull out couch," she said, tossing a fresh pillowcase and one of his pillows at him while she tucked the new top sheet in.

"You've crashed on it before," he pointed out as he shoved the pillow in the case.

"I've also slept on the ground during missions, and you weren't trying to impress me. So, you either share a bed, or you take the couch. Either way, you need clean sheets. Have you never had a girlfriend stay the night before?"

At Clint's silence, she glanced up with raised eyebrows.

"Like you've invited anyone over to your place," he countered, fluffing the pillow a little too aggressively. "Besides, technically, Kat and I haven't discussed what we are to the other. But, if and when we do, I would be her man, not her boyfriend. Twelve-year-old's have boyfriends."

"You sometimes act like a twelve-year-old," she countered with a crooked smile. "Can I offer another bit of unsolicited advice?"

"Would me saying 'no' even stop you?"

"Probably not," she said, tossing the other pillow on the bed beside its mate before pulling the comforter back on. "Talk it out with her, and define what exactly you're doing, before you decide to sleep together. It'll prevent a messy, complicated, situation."

She didn't want miscommunication to screw everything up for Clint. Kat and him had the 'it' factor, but even that wouldn't be enough to save them from the drama of an undefined relationship status. Resentment and insecurities tended to extinguish even the brightest, hottest sparks.

"Besides," she added to help alleviate the seriousness of their conversation. "You'd rather do it on your own terms than have the conversation take place during an awkward HR meeting."

Clint made a face.

"I don't see why HR needs to know anything about our personal lives."

"To give senior agents something to gossip about, of course," she said, making Clint smile.

 **PARIS, FRANCE**

Slater paced as his security team scoured the feed from the charity ball, searching for the pair who sabotaged the weapon he'd sold for billions. Money he had to give back when he showed his buyer the merchandise only to find the system dead.

"She wore a red dress and a black lace mask," Slater reminded them. His guards had managed to see that much before the two slipped away.

"As did a quarter of the female patrons," his tech guy reminded him as he sifted through the footage.

"But the other female patrons didn't sabotage my weapon." The bitch had created a virus that completely decimated the merchandise. Doing as much damage to the weapon as the weapon could do to cities.

"You still have the prototype. You can make another," his hired tech suggested, clicking over to the next camera's footage.

"It's not _my_ prototype. I can't make it work. And I want to know who I have to kill for that and who they work for."

"Well, whoever created the virus to destroy it, is a genius. She could probably figure it out." He'd never seen anything like the virus the mystery woman put on the device. It was a bit of a tech turn-on how well she knew her way around code and a keyboard.

"Only if she's a genius for hire and then depending on her price," Slater muttered. He doubted he could out-bid whoever hired her to destroy it.

"I've got a clear shot of our culprit and her assassin coconspirator from one of the cameras in the hall outside the study," Finley, one of his security personnel, called from another monitor, causing the tech guy to swivel in her direction.

Halting mid-pace, Slater leaned over the girl's shoulder.

"Good enough to do facial recognition?" he asked.

Pushing Finley out of the way, the tech guy's fingers flew over the keyboard, entering coded commands until lines of data popped up on the screen stacking on top of each other until it ended with their names.

"Clint Barton and Katherine Lee," Slater said, muttering a low curse when their credentials followed. "SHIELD."

"So, what's the plan? Recruit or take them out?" Finley asked.

"It's too risky to recruit," Slater said. Most SHIELD agents were unwaveringly loyal. He should know, having worked alongside them. "We've got a double header on our hands."

* * *

 _ **A/N: Hey everyone! Hope you liked the chapter. I'm so excited for all that is to come for Kat and Clint. After reading all your responses I've decided to keep any steamier scenes in this story and give a warning at the beginning of the chapter. I will also change the font of the first and last line of any scenes to be bold, italic, and maybe underlined as well so that anyone wishing to skip it can easily find where it starts and ends. Or I could put a horizontal line like the one above before and after the scenes as well as bolding the first and last line. Let me know if you have any questions about that.**_

 _ **Onto guest review responses:**_

 _ **JLBriggs: So glad I didn't disappoint. Hopefully I'll continue to at least meet if not exceed expectations. And thanks for letting me know your vote in regards to the rating increase :)**_

 _ **JR: It makes me happy you're loving the story. Hope it's a reoccurring trend!**_

 _ **Shae: Thanks! I'll be keeping this going through at least the first two avenger movies if not to Endgame. Thanks for letting me know you're loving it!**_

 _ **To the guest who LIVE's for Kat and Clint: aw shucks, I'm so glad you love them so much! And thanks for thinking I'm a great writer. Much appreciated compliment :) Hope you enjoyed this new installment in the story.**_

 _ **Rach**_

 _ **xoxo**_


	16. Chapter 16

**NEW YORK CITY**

Katherine's phone buzzed with a text from Clint as soon as she landed in New York and took her phone off airplane mode. Coulson called him into headquarters for a debriefing. He wouldn't be able to pick her up at the airport, so he sent Nat instead. She almost wished he hadn't, and she could just take a taxi or an uber to his place. After finding out Natasha and Angie have been discussing their relationship and sex life, she was a little hesitant to hear Natasha's end of it.

"So…" Natasha said as they awkwardly stood waiting by the conveyer belt for Kat's checked bag.

"I'd think, as a spy, you'd be better at small talk," Kat said, making Natasha to smile.

"I'm trying not to treat you like a mark." She recognized it as a default of hers around new people. Which was partly the reason Clint was her only friend. He saw right through her BS.

"Right. Well, thanks for that. And for picking me up today."

"Oh, I volunteered for this. In your endlessly unsubtle competition to convince the other to move to each of your base cities, I wasn't about to let a New York Cabbie make your case for you."

"I strike my previous thank you and replace it with the more appropriately sarcastic 'thanks a lot'" Kat said, moving towards the belt when her neon orange suitcase circled towards her.

"Subtle," Natasha said, nodding to her suitcase.

"At least I've never accidentally grabbed a stranger's bag or had the airline lose my luggage," Kat said, pulling up the handle and wheeling it in the direction of the parking lot.

Continuing in silence, they'd just made it to the first lot when Natasha threw her hand out to stop her. In quick succession, she yanked Kat's bag from her hand, tossing it as far as she could before pulling Kat in the opposite direction. They just reached the front of the nearest car when a loud explosion shook the ground and shrapnel burst through the air.

"What the fuck," Kat shouted, stumbling after Natasha, who pulled on her arm again, urging her to keep moving. She hissed when pain radiated from her upper arm and glancing down, she found a piece of the shrapnel embedded in her arm.

"Keep moving," Natasha ordered, shoving car keys into her hands. "Third row, last car."

"Why can't you," Kat started to ask as Natasha launched herself to the right, knocking the gun out of the hand of the woman exiting her car.

Forgoing any other questions, she sprinted towards the end of the row, zig zagging when gunshots echoed behind her. She dodged between the cars, bullets hitting the cars as she ran by, missing her by seconds. Sliding between the last two cars, she unlocked Natasha's car, climbed into the passenger side and slammed the door just as a bullet hit the window.

"Thank God for bulletproof glass," she muttered, sliding over the center console into the driver's seat.

Revving the engine, hand on the stick shift, she smiled as she pulled out of the space. The vibrations of the engine thrummed underneath her seat. Racing down the row towards the shooter, he retreated when she got too close. Cutting the wheel sharply to the left at the end of the row and shifting gears, Kat drifted around the corner, coming to a stop beside Natasha who now fought two new opponents; the woman from earlier lied unconscious on the ground. As soon as Natasha disengaged from the men, she hit the unlock button, peeling out of the parking lot as soon as the passenger door closed behind her.

"Take the next left," Natasha said, snapping on her seatbelt.

"What was that," she asked, maneuvering around cars before turning left on a yellow light.

"An assassination attempt," Natasha said.

"On me? I'm a faceless techie." Her targets didn't know who she was. She wasn't some newbie who left electronic fingerprints behind.

"Cut right," Natasha said, noticing motorcycles weaving through traffic behind them. When Kat maneuvered the turn without hesitation or any damage to the car when they cut through the alley, Nat was impressed. "Headquarters is southeast of here."

Katherine thought they were home free until two motorcycles cut off her route. Holding automatic rifles, they released fire on the car, hammering the windshield with bullets. With no other choice, Kat threw the car into reverse and floored it. Using her mirrors, she pulled the emergency break and cut the wheel, taking an intersecting alley until she was going backwards down Amsterdam, a one-way street. Natasha did say headquarters was southeast.

"Damn," Nat said, staring at Katherine in awe. "Clint wasn't exaggerating your driving skills."

Snapping out of her fleeting girl-crush moment, she directed Katherine down a few side streets to SHIELD headquarters. As soon as the doors to the underground garage shut behind them, Kat rested her head against the headrest.

"I like your car," Kat said, turning her head to face Natasha, who sent her a crooked smile at the comment. "Lucky it's bullet proof really."

"It comes in handy in my profession."

"Do you get in car chases with assassins often?" She asked.

Natasha shrugged.

"How _did_ you know about the bomb back there?" She'd been none the wiser about anything being amiss with her luggage. It had her wondering why Natasha suspected anything out of the ordinary.

"I smelled acetone, and your nails were free of polish, so I assumed you hadn't packed any nail polish remover," she shrugged as if the act of deduction was simple. Looking down at the metal sticking out of Kat's arm, she opened her car door. "Come on, I'll take you to the med bay."

The adrenaline of the chase had stolen her attention from her wound, but Natasha's reminder brought her attention back to the pulsing pain.

Leading her through the maze of hallways, Natasha messaged Clint, who'd want to know Kat was there, and Coulson, who'd want to know about the assassins at JFK. They were barely in the med bay for a few minutes, Kat letting loose a string of curses as one of the nurses removed the shrapnel to send to analysis, when the door whizzed open as Coulson and Clint arrived.

"What the hell happened?" Clint asked, making a beeline towards Kat. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, it's just a cut," she assured him, grunting when the nurse consecutively jammed three needles in her: an antibiotic to prevent infection, a tetanus shot, and then a numbing agent so they could stitch her up.

Clint looked to the nurse for confirmation. When she subtly shook her head, denying Kat's claim it was just a cut, he turned to Natasha in hopes of getting a real answer. "Nat?"

"Someone swapped her suitcase for one with a bomb in it," Natasha said, hopping up on the end of the bed beside Katherine. "And sent several assassins to make sure the job was finished."

"I'm pretty sure they'll be out of a job soon," Kat said. Natasha smiled.

"Jesus Christ," Clint said, running a hand through his hair. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yes. I'm sure." Kat said. "I just don't understand who'd want me dead."

She was a data analyst. It wasn't like she made many enemies. At least, none who would know who she was on the other side of the computer.

"We've got forensics going over the shrapnel from your arm, and analysis combing through your past missions," Coulson said. "I would recommend staying on premises until we figure out what's going on."

"Any suggestions on how to pass the time?" Lee asked Clint, not seeming at all perturbed about the threat on her life.

"Are you hungry?" he asked. "We've got a cafeteria that put's the Triskelion's to shame."

"I'll be the judge of that," she said, hopping off the hospital bed.

"Do they not grasp how serious this situation is? How can they think about food?" Coulson asked Romanoff as the pair exited the med bay. For someone to identify one of their best data analyzers, and care enough to target her with such force, was unheard of. Normally such an aggressive response was reserved for the field agents.

"Clint stopped at a food cart in Budapest during our shootout in the bazaar." Natasha shrugged. Him wanting to take Kat on a lunch date at headquarters in an effort to convince her to transfer to New York was very on-brand for him. Kat being chill despite the attempt on her life solidified Natasha's opinion not only of her, but of her being a good fit for Clint.

 **PARIS**

"What do you mean she got away?" Slater said, clenching his jaw. Lee was a data analysis. He'd sent highly trained hit men after her. There's no way she should have survived.

"Lee isn't just some simple techie. She knows how to handle a car. She gave us the slip," one of the hitmen said, his voice buzzing over the speaker phone.

"A genius with code and a kickass driver?" Jeffrey asked, looking up from his keyboard. Could she get any sexier?

"Did I tell you to stop?" Slater asked him, snapping his fingers at the destroyed shell of a weapon his tech guy was sifting through. Turning back to his call he asked, "What about Barton?"

"He wasn't there. Some redhead picked her up from the airport." So, their intel was unreliable.

"Jeffrey, stop what you're doing," Slater ordered.

"But you just said," Jeffrey said, only to be cut off.

"Forget what I said. I need you to get me reliable intel on Lee and Barton. Dig up anything you can. No detail is too small. I want to know when they take a piss. Got it?"

Cyberstalk the sexy genius and her muscleman partner? "You've got it boss."

 **NEW YORK CITY**

"Well, what do you think?" Clint asked, reclining back in his chair. Lunch had long since ended and they had the cafeteria to themselves after their smorgasbord of a lunch.

"It's comparable," she said, not wanting to give him the advantage in their little competition. In truth, lunch was delicious, but seeing as she rarely used the Triskelion cafeteria it shouldn't really be a selling point.

Clint signed _'bullshit'_ at her with a smirk. He'd eaten at both cafeterias, New York definitely had the Triskelion beat.

"You want New York to impress me?" Kat asked, before signing _'show me the tech department.'_

Clint stared at her, making her crack her knuckles for something else to do with her hands.

"Did I sign something wrong? I've been practicing but YouTube isn't always reliable."

"It's not wrong," he reassured her. "You've been practicing?"

"It passes the time between files," Kat shrugged, trying to brush it off as nothing.

"What else did you learn to sign?" He asked, leaning forward and placing his chin in his hand as he studied her.

"Why don't you show me the tech department first?" she countered, signing the word ' _please'_ after, making Clint smile.

"C'mon. You'll love it. You get the penthouse here," he said, taking her hand as he led her to the elevators.

Glancing down at their entwined hands as Clint gave her the tour of the floor, she knew he had no idea he was the most alluring aspect of New York. Though the banging tech set-up wasn't half bad either. Walking into a room where every desk had at least dual monitors, some with four screens, not to mention the computer models weren't even on the market yet, had her releasing Clint's hand to do a full turn to take it all in.

"You like it?" Clint asked with a wide smile as he watched Kat's awed expression.

"This is my Disney princess moment. I now know how Belle felt when Beast gave her his library," Kat said, moving towards the nearest free station that happened to have four monitors.

Taking a seat, refraining from sighing at the lumbar support of the chair, she booted up the system, turning towards Clint with a giddy smile when the system hummed to life. He pulled the chair at the next station over and he sat beside her, leaning close to her as she brought up a blank webpage. She quickly went into concentration mode as her fingers flew over the keyboard.

"Are you working on your weekend off?" Clint asked, realizing she wasn't performing a simple google search to check out their internet speed.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Kat said, copying the few lines of code she wrote into a new window on one of the other monitors. "I'm trying to find out who's gunning to kill me."

Clint squinted at the computer screens.

"How are you going to do that?"

"Someone knew what flight I'd be on and probably tracked my bag through the luggage tag. There's no way they got through my home laptop firewall. I built that baby myself. Which means, they hacked the airline. I'm going to see if I can find the loophole they used and set a tracer to follow the breadcrumbs back to the server they used."

"I never thought tech talk would do it for me, but I find your mind incredibly sexy," he said. Her fingers fumbled over the keys. "Even when I only understood half of what you just said."

"So, it's like me whenever you use rapid fire sign language," she let slip as she focused back on the code.

"You only understand half of what I say, or you find it sexy?" he asked with a playful smirk.

Pausing mid-code, she signed as she verbally admitted, "both."

"I'll have to start signing more often," he said, signing as he spoke, causing her to bite her lip.

Pushing her glasses up with her right hand, her gaze darted towards Clint before zeroing back in on the screens. She needed to focus. She had several windows of code working, her gaze flitting between each screen as her codes did the work for her, sifting through anyone who accessed the airlines information in the past few days.

When the text stopped, and coordinates popped up, she turned to the fourth monitor to type them in, cursing under her breath when the location popped up. Leaning over her shoulder, Clint let out a long sigh when the address of the auction in Paris popped up.

"Slater," he muttered.

"We need to talk to Coulson," she said, closing out of the windows.

Clint flipped his hand palm up to check his watch.

"He's probably in his weekly admin meeting. Fourth floor conference room."

They waited outside the conference room, leaning against the wall on either side of the door, until the meeting ended and agents filed out of the room, dispersing down the halls back to their offices. Slipping inside after the last agent, Coulson glanced up from the files he shuffled together.

"Biotech and analysis haven't found anything yet," he said, turning his attention back to the files.

"I have," Kat said, sliding her phone across the table to him with the coordinates she'd found. "Seems Slater didn't appreciate my virus."

Pulling his phone from his pocket, he double checked the coordinates she provided. He didn't bother asking how she got the coordinates. He probably wouldn't understand her explanation anyways. It didn't matter how she got it, it mattered what they did with the information.

"Good work," he said, handing her phone back to her. "We'll put together a team to counteract and eliminate the threat."

"It's my job to eliminate Slater. I want in." Clint said, leaning against the conference table.

"That was before. If he found out Lee's identity, he very well could know yours as well. I'll be assigning a new agent to Slater's case."

"You're not serious," Clint said. Slater was his assignment. Did Coulson really think he'd let a blown cover keep him from tracking and eliminating the man who tried to kill Kat? "Whether I've been compromised or not doesn't affect my ability to eliminate him."

"It removes the element of surprise and puts you at a disadvantage. As your senior agent, I'm taking you both off his case."

"We've studied his files for weeks and now you're benching us?" Kat asked. Putting a new agent on this could prove to be as much of a hindrance as keeping them on even with their identities known.

"Your part in the mission was completed when you destroyed the weapon. And I'd rather catch another agent up to speed than let two of our best get picked off like sitting ducks," Coulson insisted. "Slater's proven to be resourceful. He obviously recruited his own hacker and can monitor your movements. Taking that into consideration, I think it's safer for you both to go off grid."

Kat hugged her phone to her stomach. She knew 'off grid' meant no tech, no internet, no communication with the outside world.

"I'm a data analyst. I don't do 'off grid.'" Her whole job centered around computers and technology. "I don't know how to do it."

"Barton's been off-grid before. He can help you adjust."

"I don't agree with your decision." Clint crossed his arms. "Let me handle Slater."

"You don't have to agree. But I do expect you to follow orders. Can you do that?"

Silence met his question as Lee and Barton shared a heavy look. With a sigh, Lee's hands started moving in what Coulson recognized as sign language, though he had no clue what she was saying.

' _There goes our weekend.'_ Kat was really looking forward to seeing Clint's place and hanging around him in his everyday setting. Getting a glimpse at his life in New York.

' _At least we'll be together.'_ He signed back.

Coulson looked between the two. Did that mean they were on board with the plan?

Reluctantly, Kat set her phone back on the conference table.

"I still think I could tech-block Slater's hacker, but we'll try it your way first."

* * *

 _ **A/N: Hello everyone. My goodness I feel like it's been ages. I really hope it doesn't take me that long to sort out how to write the next update. And I hope everyone enjoyed this update. I had fun with it.**_

 _ **To the guest who found this story by pulling up my profile so you could reread Rehabilitate for the fifth time: I'm glad you found this story and took the time to read it. It's so so lovely to hear how much you love both stories and my writing. Thank you for reading and say you think I'm an amazing writer. It means so so much. Hope you enjoyed the update.**_

 _ **Rach**_

 _ **xoxo**_


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